Policy and Procedure regarding use of Consent and Authority
comprising Form D to the Ministerial Directions made pursuant
to S134AF(1) of the Accident Compensation Act 1985
1. In the course of managing an application brought by a worker
pursuant to Section 134AB(4) of the Accident Compensation Act 1985
(“the Act”) it may become necessary for the Victorian Workcover Authority
(VWA), or legal firm instructed by the VWA, to seek information from
the provider of a health service.
2. By Order of the Governor in Council gazetted 12 October 2006
a worker may at the time of making an application pursuant to Section
134AB (4) provide the VWA or a self insurer with a consent and
authority to release information and documents.
This consent is in the form comprising Form D to the Ministerial
Directions made pursuant to S134AF(1) of the Act.
3. In accordance with Form D the consent and authority is only valid
until such time as the VWA or self insurer makes a determination
under Section 134AB (7).
4. The provision of the consent and authority with the application
is not intended to derogate from the responsibility of a worker’s
legal practitioner to ensure that as far as possible all medical reports,
including treaters’ notes and records relevant to the determination of
“serious injury” and common law damages upon which the worker seeks
to rely, are included in the application.
5. In circumstances where the VWA or its legal representatives elect
to utilise the authority to seek further information and documents,
the authority should be utilised in a considered manner and have proper
regard to both the subject matter of the application and the potential
relevance of the material sought through utilisation of the authority
and consent.
6. Where the VWA or its legal representative seeks information
and documents by relying upon the authority and consent the person
utilising the authority will:
(i) at the same time, advise the worker’s legal representative of the
use of the authority and provide a copy of the requesting letter;
(ii) each letter of request to a provider will indicate that the
information collected may be released by the VWA or its legal
representative to the worker’s legal representative;
(iii) subject to being prevented by law from doing so, provide
upon written request from the worker’s legal representative a
copy of the information so obtained by the VWA or its legal representative
to the worker’s legal representative.
(iv) a copy of any information obtained by the VWA or its legal
representative, if released to the worker’s legal representative, will be
provided to the worker’s legal representative without charge.
7. For the avoidance of doubt the provision of a Form D does
not allow a legal firm instructed by the VWA to request that a
medical report be generated nor does it permit the firm to seek any
comment from the person to whom the Form D is provided.
“To give access to all information and documents” is restricted
to information and documents in existence at the time of the request.
8. Copies of any information and documents obtained pursuant
to the consent and authority will not be provided to a third party
save where the provision of such information and documents is required
to assist in the conduct of the worker’s claim, including the application
or any subsequent common law proceeding arising from the
application or otherwise by consent of the worker or worker’s
legal representative. Examples of such third parties are as follows:
- Experts engaged by the Authority to provide opinions or to assist
it in the conduct of the claim;
- Counsel engaged by the Authority to appear;
- A third party identified by the worker or the VWA as a
potential tortfeasor in relation to the application or a subsequent
common law proceeding arising from the cause of action identified
in the application;- As provided by this protocol.
9. In the event that disclosure of information or documents to
a third party is otherwise required by law and in circumstances
not envisaged by this protocol, the worker or the worker’s legal
representative are to be notified of the request
and of the disclosure required by law in such circumstances.
Last updated on 12 December 2007
WCV's: raised this issue with Mr Tweedly from the VWA
sometime ago.
WCV's asked Mr Tweedly, why was the VWA obtaining
injured workers complete medical records when infact they
were only entitled to the medical records pertaining to the
workplace injury?
I have still not recived any formal response to the letter
sent about this issue but this document was found on the
VWA website some weeks after the letter had been sent!
Policy changing from within seems to be the way that the VWA
handle their irresponsible behaviour towards injured workers
and their rights to privacy.
WCV's would still like to know why the VWA think they are
entitled to all of your medical records?
We here at WCV's believe that this technique is used
by the VWA to obtain further personal medical details about the
injured worker so as it may be used to refuse benefits being paid
for claims.
If the injured worker has had other illnesses like depression
but chose not to tell his employers then this information could be
used against him/her in their claim simply because the VWA obtained
unauthorised information and was able to refuse payment of many
claims by claiming that the worker had a ppevious history of the illness
even if it was 20 years ago!!!!.
The VWA have been able to obtain this information because of a
consent authority they have on the claim forms.
The injured worker is also told that if the form is not filled in in
its entirety then the VWA will deny their claim until it is?
That's blackmail!!!!!!!!
Workers are being made to sign away their right to privacy to
be able to make a workcover claim!!!!
When an injured workers makes a claim they should insure
that only the medical records that apply to their workplace injury
are being provided to the VWA from their treating GP's or
specialist office.
Do not provide any irrelevant personal information to the
VWA or their agents.
Don't assume that only relevant files are being sent because
more than likely they are sending the whole file.
Make sure!
No comments:
Post a Comment