York Central Hospital’s Commitment to Patients Regarding the Privacy of Personal Information¹

At York Central Hospital (YCH), we value you as a unique person with a right to be respected and accepted. One way we show this is by respecting your right to the privacy of your personal information.

As our patient, you trust with us with your information. To honour that trust, we strive to use it only for identified legitimate purposes,² and to protect it from misuse. Here are the specific steps we take, to protect your privacy while delivering high-quality care:

• We create and put into practice policies and procedures aimed at ensuring that your personal information is collected, used or disclosed only for legitimate purposes. These policies and procedures are designed to safeguard your privacy, and to conform with the law.
• In the interests of efficient and safe delivery of the care you require, we assume that consent for YCH to
  handle your personal information for identified legitimate purposes is implied by the fact that you are
  attending YCH for your care. Notwithstanding the latter, YCH will strive to obtain written consent for
  personal information handling, whenever practical and/or most appropriate.
• When we collect your personal information, we collect no more than we need for legitimate purposes. As much as possible, we collect the information directly from you, and we keep it no longer than needed.³
• Everyone who works with patient information at YCH is trained in the appropriate use of that information and knows that it is available to them only for use in your care or for other limited but legitimate reasons. A violation of confidentiality is not tolerated, with employee penalties up to and including dismissal.
• No matter how your information is stored – on computer, in writing, or some other way – we keep it in a safe and secure way that protects your privacy.

If you have questions….

If you have questions about the privacy of your personal information, or about related policies and practices, or if you wish to view your personal information, please speak with your caregiver or health professional. Any of these people will be happy to help you.

After speaking with them if you need more information, contact our Chief Information and Privacy Officer, at
(905) 883-1212, by e-mail at privacy@yorkcentral.on.ca or by mail at:
York Central Hospital, Chief Information and Privacy Officer,
10 Trench Street, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 3Z4.

To view the full YCH Privacy Policy Click Here

¹ YCH is grateful to St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto for sharing their “Commitment to Patients” with us. It is reproduced here with minor modifications.
² “For Legitimate purposes” means for your care or treatment or for other purposes which are typical of community hospital like YCH and which we are required or permitted by law. Other purposes include approved healthcare teaching, studying and improve YCH services, seeking charitable support through YCH Foundation, supporting YCH expense claims, Financial agencies, and providing data to recognized Canadian institutions for health information management (e.g., The Canadian Institute of Health Information). YCH maintains a special partnership with Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and Southlake Regional Health Centre. This makes it easier to share patient information between the two facilities on an as needed basis.
³ How long we need to keep some types of medical information is specified by law.

November 2002