Email Policy
As all health information is sensitive by nature, all communication of health information, including via electronic means, must adequately protect the patient’s privacy. Our practice endeavours to take reasonable steps to make our communication of health information adequately safe and secure. In some cases we will only send particular health information such as referrals, directly to the recipient (specialist or health professional) via secure messaging.
If email is being used to send health information to our patients, they should be aware of the risks associated with using email in the healthcare environment.
What are the risks of using email to send healthcare information?
All forms of written communication involve an element of risk that information could be read by someone other than the intended recipient. The risks of using unsecured or unencrypted email include:
• emails can easily be sent to the wrong recipient
• email is often accessed on portable devices, such as smart phones, tablets and laptops, which are easily lost or stolen
• emails can be forwarded or changed without the knowledge or consent of the original sender
• email is vulnerable to interception.
