The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) is a key piece of legislation in Australia that allows individuals to request access to documents and information held by government agencies.
I need:
You, or your doctor, can ask us to send medical information to your doctor, or to another healthcare provider for continuing care.
Please ask your doctor to phone Health Information Services 03 5320 4227 (Ballarat) or 03 5381 9290 (Horsham, Dimboola, Stawell and Edenhope), or email HISEnquiries@gh.org.au (Ballarat) or HISWest@gh.org.au. We may require your written consent.
You can obtain a copy of your discharge summary through My Health Records.
If you don't have My Health Record, contact Health Information Services on HISEnquiries@gh.org.au (Ballarat) or HISWest@gh.org.au (Horsham, Dimboola, Stawell and Edenhope) for a copy of your discharge summary.
You don't need to make an FOI application if you only want a discharge summary.
You can ask your treating clinician for a copy of information share with you or your carers/family during an episode of care or attendance at Grampians Health. The treating clinician may be able to give you a copy if it is possible and reasonable to do so at the time.
For access to historical patient information for genealogy purposes, please contact the Freedom of Information Officer on freedomofinformation@gh.org.au
Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), you can ask us for:
Our online form is quick and easy to complete. It ensures that your application contains all the required information
You can also email us a request at freedomofinformation@gh.org.au. Your request must:
Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), you can ask us for:
Our online form is quick and easy to complete. It ensures that your application contains all the required information.
You can also email us a request at freedomofinformation@gh.org.au. Your request must:
Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), you can ask for:
Our online form is quick and easy to complete. It ensures that your application contains all the required information.
You can also email us a request at freedomofinformation@gh.org.au. Your request must:
'Documents' can include paper, PDF, photographs, films, video recordings, tape recordings, maps, computer reports and emails.
We may not be able to give you access to the documents you've requested. Sometimes, we may give you partial access to the information. There are many reasons why we might do this, including of it is a breach of another person's privacy.
If we can't give you access to the information, we will tell you why and provide you with details about how you can seek a review of our decision.
We will send you an acknowledgement of your request shortly ager we receive it. We can take up to 30 days to process your request and send you the documents. Sometimes it can take longer. If it is going to take longer than 30 days, we will let you know and tell you the reasons why we are asking for more time.
If you are not happy with our decision, you can:
You must do this no more than 28 days from when you get our decision.
To ask the Information Commissioner for a review, you need to:
The OVIC also has a website with;
The OVIC's details are:
Website: www.ovic.vic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 00 6842 (1300 00 OVIC)
Email: enquiries@ovic.vic.gov.au
Postal Address: Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner
PO Box 24274
Melbourne VIC 3001
For Commonwealth services delivered by Grampians Health, such as the Aged Care Assessment Services (ACAS), documents may need to be requested under the Commonwealth Freedom of Information legislation.
The FOI application fee is $33.60. It is not refundable. You can ask to waive this fee if you have a concession card, for hardship or on compassionate grounds.
We may also charge you access charges. These are what it costs us to process your request. If you choose to receive the documents by secure email, there are no access charges.
If you ask for access to your documents in a different format (e.g., paper copies), we will tell you what the access charges are going to be before we process your request.