Patient Medical Records

Please help us to keep our records up to date by informing us of any change in telephone number, name, address or MSP number. This assists us in contacting you promptly for any scheduling change or abnormal test results.

Your medical records are kept strictly confidential, and will not be disclosed to anyone without your written permission. If your doctor refers you to a specialist, we assume that you will want that specialist to have a report on your history and relevant findings and reports. This will normally be forwarded to the specialist following your visit with us. If he/she has this information, it may save repeating examinations and tests that were made during your visit here.

Transfer of Medical Records

If you are a new patient joining the Medical Arts Centre it may be helpful to have a copy of your old physicians chart (if you have a complex medical history), though this is not always necessary. In order to obtain this from your previous physician we need to send them a headed letter of request signed by you, the patient.

A chart request is usually only made once you have met with your new physician at our clinic and had a medical history appointment.

Once your chart is received (this can take up to 6 weeks to reach our office), the Medical Arts Centre physician will become responsible for your current medical record. The College of Physicians & Surgeons of BC requires all physicians to keep medical records in their possession for a minimum of 7 years after the last care is provided.

Transfer of records is not covered by your MSP insurance, and your previous doctor might charge you a nominal fee (usually about $35) to send copies of records or to dictate a summary of your medical chart.

Confidentiality

We ask you for personal information so that you can receive appropriate care and treatment. This information is recorded on the computer and we are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. The practice will ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained at all times by all members of the practice team who are all bound by a strict duty of confidentiality.

Sometimes it may be necessary to share confidential data with individuals outside our health care team, for example, when a doctor refers you to another health care professional outside the clinic setting.

Sometimes we are required to divulge information that is not directly related to your own health care but which is required for the purposes of education, audit or research. It may not always be practical to seek individual consent in such cases but we will ensure that the person to whom the information is released is bound by a duty of confidentiality. Information will be restricted to that necessary for its intended purpose and anonymised where possible.

If you have any concerns with regard to data protection, please contact our practice manager.