1 Feb 2012, 09:00

An ACC claimant had two claims - a sensitive claim and a current physical injury claim. As part of the rehabilitation for his physical injury, he was referred to a physiotherapy clinic and to a careers assistance agency. Information about his claims was sent to these two agencies by ACC as part of the referral.

The man became aware that a large amount of information had been provided to the two agencies by ACC. It included some sensitive claim information, detailing sexual abuse, which had not been appropriately blacked out.

This complaint raised an issue under rule 11 of the Health Information Privacy Code. Rule 11 states that an agency must not disclose personal information unless it believes, on reasonable grounds, that one of the stated exceptions applies.

ACC conducted an internal investigation into the matter and accepted that it had breached rule 11 of the Code in disclosing information to the agencies which was unnecessary for their purposes and extremely sensitive.

For a complaint to have sufficient substance, it must be shown that the breach of the Code resulted in some hurt to the complainant. The man outlined that the breach had caused him significant adverse consequences. His rehabilitation and relationship which his family had been affected due to the stress of the situation. He also considered it affected his ability to find employment and influenced how the service providers interacted with him.

The complaint was resolved by ACC assigning a new case manager, providing a written apology and also an amount of money.

September 2012

ACC - disclosure of health information - interference with privacy - sensitive claim - Health Information Privacy Code; rule 11