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Collection of 'family medical history' under the Health Records Regulations 2002

Authority to collect family medical history

HPP 1 of the Health Records Act (the Act) specifies the circumstances in which a public or private sector organisation may collect identifying health information. This principle sets out a number of the grounds for the collection of health information for the purposes of providing health services. HPP 1 also allows regulations to be made to specify additional grounds

It is an accepted part of some health services delivery, especially medical practice, that a health service provider will prepare a family medical history or social medical history from information provided by the person seeking health services, to assist in diagnosing and treating that person or to provide him or her with other health, disability or aged care services. This history will ordinarily be prepared without the consent of the relatives or other third parties concerned, as it will not be practicable to obtain their consent.

Regulation 8 of the Health Records Regulations 2002 (the regulations) therefore supplements HPP 1 by allowing a health service provider to request and record health information about a third party, provided that:

• the information collected about that third party does not contain any more identifying information than is reasonably necessary to provide safe and effective treatment or services to the person who is being treated or receiving services from the provider; and
• the information is collected from the person being treated or who is receiving the services, or if he or she unable to give the information because of an incapacity (due to age, injury, disease, senility, illness, disability, physical impairment or mental disorder), from that person's authorised representative, immediate family member or primary carer.

Organisations should refer to regulation 8 for details of this ground of collection. The regulations are available from www.legislation.vic.gov.au.

The terms "immediate family member" and "parent" are relevant to this regulation, and are defined in section 3 of the Act as follows:

immediate family member of an individual means a person who is-
(a)  a parent, child or sibling of the individual; or
(b)  a spouse or domestic partner of the individual; or
(c)  a member of the individual's household who is a relative of the individual; or
(d)  a person nominated to a health service provider by the individual as a person to whom health information relating to the individual may be disclosed;

parent, in relation to a child, includes-
(a)  a step-parent;
(b)  an adoptive parent;
(c)  a foster parent;
(d)  a guardian;
(e)  a person who has custody or daily care and control- of the child.

Regulation 8 also provides that a health service provider who collects health information under this provision is not obliged to inform the third party to whom the information relates about the collection.

Further information

Further information is also available from the Office of the Health Services Commissioner at http://www.health.vic.gov.au/hsc/ . The Commissioner's office can be contacted on (03) 8601 5200 or toll free on 1800 136 066.

The regulations are available from http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/