ACTIn ForceAct
Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997
12Requests for access
Start here
Get a plain-English read of 12
Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997.
12 Requests for access
(1) A consumer who has a right of access under section 10 or section 10A
to a health record may ask the record keeper for access to the record.
(2) A request must—
(a) state the name and, unless it is already known to the record
keeper, the address, of the consumer; and
(b) sufficiently identify the health record to which access is sought;
and
(c) specify the way in which the consumer wishes to have access,
being a way mentioned in section 10 (3); and
(d) be in writing if it is—
(i) a request by a person with parental responsibility for a
child or young person unless, in the 12 months before
making the request, the person with parental responsibility
consented to the treatment of the child or young person that
gave rise to the health record that is the subject of the
request; or
(ii) a request by a guardian of a legally incompetent person; or
(iii) a request by a legal representative of a deceased consumer.
(3) In the case of an oral request, the record keeper—
(a) may ask the consumer to make the request in writing; and
(b) if the record keeper does so—need not take any further action in
respect of the oral request.