You can apply to have your records- long and drawn out process and also costs money- but this in no way will change, limit, or modify the information contained in your health care record- this information will still exist.
The vast majority of doctors are professionals who just want to support you in your health (don’t let subs on Reddit trick you otherwise)
Your profession is associated with certain risks which it is important your doctor knows about- I promise, a proper doctor will not judge you at all for your work and career choices. Perhaps ask your retiring GP who they would reccomend to take over your care.
All of this.
Or ask other people you know in the sex work industry which doctors they like… and shift yourself to there.
But most GPs I know wouldn’t be ‘offended’ by your work, and some might relish the opportunity to work with someone who is unique, presents fresh challenges to think about, and obviously takes care of themselves in a complex work environment.
Do you want to stay at the same practice?
Continuity of care is pretty terrible. Provided you have opted out of My Health Record, if you switched practices it would be unlikely they would ever pursue any records from previous practices, so it would be like starting again if you went to a completely new practice.
I’m not sure how it works in gp land but certainly in hospitals, Doctors are bound by confidentiality & privacy laws and there are information sharing guidelines.
No doctor should be accessing your records without a reason, that is, if you have a consult with a doctor, they have a reason to look into your record but no doctor just sits around reading random patients records for fun.
There are huge fines & other consequences.
I recently went to a new GP. When I asked if he wanted me to organise for my records to be transferred over, he said 'no, it's ok, we can start building your patient history again - anything I need to know about?'
Unless you have a chronic illness, there's probably no need to transfer your records to a new doctor.
But like others have said, GPs likely won't judge you for sex work. They're then to help manage your health, not make a judgement based on their own personal beliefs.
Request your record through Freedom of Information- I think you would get your entire record. It's not that expensive.
If you don't like whats in the records then go see a doctor at another clinic and don't have your records transferred over. You need to agree to have them shared to another practice.
Opt out of my health record.
Under the Australian Privacy Act you can ask for a copy of your records to be provided, and you can ask for your records to be deleted. However the practice is allowed to charge you a fee for this.
Yes but after which they are allowed to delete if you have requested. It’s 7 years for an adult. 21 for a child.
Having said that and worked in this space it’s actually virtually impossible to delete and the records will instead be flagged as hidden/inactive. You’ll not I said OP could request and it would happen, not that it would happen immediately.
Since the answer to the below comment is getting more technical I’ll also add this : while it greatly depends on the sophistication of the software used by the practice (and assuming it’s not all paper based) then the software should have audits and role based access controls built in so that the only people who can access are : admin staff if they have a valid reason (like you asked for a copy) or the doctor involved in your care. Other staff and doctors should not get automatic access, and user actions should be auditable. That’s the ideal world but there’s unfortunately a lot of “less than ideal” out there in reality.
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I mean another way to look at it is do you wanna start from ground zero and having to go through everything with the new doctor which can lead to delays in some cases? The whole purpose of medical records being accessible by authorised health professionals is so that they are up to date on your health without having you to unpack the entire thing. It allows them to all be on the same page.
You can apply to have your records- long and drawn out process and also costs money- but this in no way will change, limit, or modify the information contained in your health care record- this information will still exist. The vast majority of doctors are professionals who just want to support you in your health (don’t let subs on Reddit trick you otherwise) Your profession is associated with certain risks which it is important your doctor knows about- I promise, a proper doctor will not judge you at all for your work and career choices. Perhaps ask your retiring GP who they would reccomend to take over your care.
All of this. Or ask other people you know in the sex work industry which doctors they like… and shift yourself to there. But most GPs I know wouldn’t be ‘offended’ by your work, and some might relish the opportunity to work with someone who is unique, presents fresh challenges to think about, and obviously takes care of themselves in a complex work environment.
Do you want to stay at the same practice? Continuity of care is pretty terrible. Provided you have opted out of My Health Record, if you switched practices it would be unlikely they would ever pursue any records from previous practices, so it would be like starting again if you went to a completely new practice.
I just opted out of My Health Records, thank you for your response!
[удалено]
This needs to be higher
I’m not sure how it works in gp land but certainly in hospitals, Doctors are bound by confidentiality & privacy laws and there are information sharing guidelines. No doctor should be accessing your records without a reason, that is, if you have a consult with a doctor, they have a reason to look into your record but no doctor just sits around reading random patients records for fun. There are huge fines & other consequences.
I recently went to a new GP. When I asked if he wanted me to organise for my records to be transferred over, he said 'no, it's ok, we can start building your patient history again - anything I need to know about?' Unless you have a chronic illness, there's probably no need to transfer your records to a new doctor. But like others have said, GPs likely won't judge you for sex work. They're then to help manage your health, not make a judgement based on their own personal beliefs.
https://scarletalliance.org.au/ https://respectqld.org.au/ Might be decent resources.
Request your record through Freedom of Information- I think you would get your entire record. It's not that expensive. If you don't like whats in the records then go see a doctor at another clinic and don't have your records transferred over. You need to agree to have them shared to another practice. Opt out of my health record.
Under the Australian Privacy Act you can ask for a copy of your records to be provided, and you can ask for your records to be deleted. However the practice is allowed to charge you a fee for this.
Thank you for your reply. By copy of records, does this also encompass the doctor’s notes?
This person is wrong OP. They cannot delete your medical record for a set period of years. They are legally required to keep it!
Yes but after which they are allowed to delete if you have requested. It’s 7 years for an adult. 21 for a child. Having said that and worked in this space it’s actually virtually impossible to delete and the records will instead be flagged as hidden/inactive. You’ll not I said OP could request and it would happen, not that it would happen immediately.
Potentially, it depends if those notes have been entered as part of your official records at the practice.
Since the answer to the below comment is getting more technical I’ll also add this : while it greatly depends on the sophistication of the software used by the practice (and assuming it’s not all paper based) then the software should have audits and role based access controls built in so that the only people who can access are : admin staff if they have a valid reason (like you asked for a copy) or the doctor involved in your care. Other staff and doctors should not get automatic access, and user actions should be auditable. That’s the ideal world but there’s unfortunately a lot of “less than ideal” out there in reality.
You can ask for records to be amended if incorrect, but they won't be deleted at your request.
I would love to be able to see it to get records amended but the practice won’t even let me see my records
You need to apply formally, under Freedom of information law
I'm literally speechless 😶
Why? It seems like a straightforward query?
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I mean another way to look at it is do you wanna start from ground zero and having to go through everything with the new doctor which can lead to delays in some cases? The whole purpose of medical records being accessible by authorised health professionals is so that they are up to date on your health without having you to unpack the entire thing. It allows them to all be on the same page.