Access to health records

Subpoenas or Summons to produce health records

The subpoena should include:

• client’s full name
• date of birth
• which cohealth site or service they attended
• the date range of the requested health records
• production date

The subpoena should be addressed to any of the following:

• The Proper Officer
• Privacy Officer
• Health Information Manager
• cohealth

Subpoenas or Summons to attend to give evidence

A subpoena requiring a staff member to attend court to give evidence should include:

• client’s full name
• date of birth
• which cohealth service the client attended
• the date range of client’s service attendance
• hearing date and venue
• direct contact details of the main contact on the matter

The subpoena should be addressed to the staff member, at their usual cohealth work location. Delivery of the subpoena should be in person to the staff member at their usual cohealth work location, during business hours.

Before issuing a subpoena, we suggest you confirm that the individual is still employed at cohealth by contacting the Privacy Officer via privacy@cohealth.org.au.

Witness Fees may be charged for staff members’ time; invoices will be issued after any appearance depending on the duration of the appearance.

Subpoenas or Summons to produce employee records

A subpoena requiring production of employee records should include:

• the employee’s full name;
• cohealth sites and services at which the employee worked; and
• the relevant period of employment.

The subpoena should be addressed to any of the following:

• The Proper Officer
• Privacy Officer
• People and Culture
• cohealth

How to service a Subpoena or Summons

In order to comply and be processed by cohealth, the subpoena or summons must be:

• Stamped by the Court;
• Addressed correctly;
• Include sufficient conduct money; and
• Delivered to cohealth by 4pm on or before the last date of service

If permitted by the applicable court rules, you can serve a subpoena or summons for production of documents via email to: privacy@cohealth.org.au

If you would like to provide electronic deposit of conduct fees, please contact the privacy team via:
Phone: 03 9448 6266
Email: privacy@cohealth.org.au.

Coroner’s requests for health records are submitted via privacy@cohealth.org.au.

All requests for client health records must be made in writing and include a signed consent/authority from the client or their legal guardian, completed within the 12 months prior to the request.
Requests should clearly state the following information:

• client’s full name
• date of birth
• which cohealth service they attended
• the date or timeframe when the client attended the service (if requesting records that may be in archive).

cohealth may confirm consent with the client prior to actioning the request.

cohealth will charge a fee, as per the applicable legislations, for processing the request for client health information. Our fee structure aligns with the Health Records Act 2001(Vic) for cohealth Victoria and the Privacy Act 1988 for cohealth Tasmania.

For further information, please contact the privacy team:
Phone: 03 9448 6266
Email: privacy@cohealth.org.au