About this service
The NSW Department of Health manages psychiatric patient
medical records for the years 1850 to 1972, though there
may be some psychiatric medical records held prior to 1850.
To
access to psychiatric medical records after 1972, you will
need to contact the treating hospital. In instances where
the treating hospital has closed, contact the Area Health
Service that the treating hospital was located in.
Not all
records are kept as State archives and earlier records
may not always have survived. In conjunction with this, the
content of individual records varies from quite detailed
information, to little or no information that is of use for
research purposes.
Each year the NSW Department of Health
receives numerous enquiries from private individuals requesting
access to psychiatric patient medical records that are
held as State archives. Usually because they are researching
their family history.
Prior to the introduction of the State
Records Act 1998 and the Privacy and Personal Information
Protection Act 1998, the Department would allow access
to the records based on policies and procedures in place
at that time.
Since the introduction of and to comply with
the requirements of the privacy legislation, the NSW Department
of Health introduced its own Privacy Code of Practice and
the NSW Health Privacy Management Plan. Part of the Privacy
Code of Practice is to ensure the privacy of the patient
and their family, especially in relation to the medical
records that the department controls.
One of the ways the
department has complied with State Records Act 1998 is
by placing a Closed Public Access direction on these records.
The Closed Public Access direction allows the Department
to manage access and appropriately assess applications
to access psychiatric patient medical records. Each application
is assessed on its merits, these being that the department
deems that access is appropriate and that access is in
the private individuals interest.
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