Au CAAP | CAAP

Requests involving medical records

20/03/2018 | Articles, Au CAAP, Santé et services sociaux

Request to access your medical file

Information found on file could answer certain questions you may have regarding the care and services and can help you understand a worrying situation.

If you are 14 years old or older, you have the right:

To confidentiality;
To have access to your file as soon as possible;
To have your file transferred;
To be assisted by a professional;
To revise the decision in the event of refusal of access to your file.

The CAAP can assist you in preparing your request to access your file. As this generally means a copy of your whole file or a part of it, photocopying costs may be linked to your request. You can ask to be advised of the eventual costs before the documents are produced.

In the case that there is a negative response in regards to your request, you have the right to request a review at the Access to Information Commission (Commission d’accès à l’information).

Request for rectification

If, after a request to see your medical file, you observe that there is information that is incomplete, inaccurate, ambiguous and/or outdated, you may request to rectify your file; such request must be based on facts. For example, a doctor who wrote that they operated you on your right hand, when in reality it was your left hand, a date error, a medication that you no longer take, etc…

In principle, professional opinions written in your file cannot be modified. For example, the symptoms of the patient, a clinical hypothesis, an evaluation or even a medical diagnosis. However, they can be subject to a second opinion made by another professional in which the results will be written in your file. It is also possible to add notes to your file concerns inappropriate elements.

These requests must be written to the person responsible for the access of documents (commonly called “the archives”) at the facility which has your file. We can help you prepare your request. Call us!

Independent of the health and social services network

13/03/2018 | Articles, Au CAAP, Santé et services sociaux

The CAAP is a community organization that is funded by the health and social services minister (Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux). We determine our mission, methods, practices, and priorities independently. The CAAP is a non-profit organization (NPO) governed by a Board of Directors elected by our members.

We accompany and inform our users independently of the complaints commissioners’ offices and other components of the health network. We serve the public.

The CAAP’s role in the health and social services network is recognized in sections 76.6 and 76.7 of the ARHSSS.

Excerpt from the Act respecting health services and social services (ARHSSS)

“76.6. The Minister must […] give a community organization in the region the mandate to assist and support, on request, users residing in the region who wish to address a complaint to an institution in the region […].

76.7. [The organization] shall, on request, assist a user in any step undertaken to file a complaint with an institution or agency or with the Health Services Ombudsman, and provide support to the user throughout the proceeding, including when the complaint is referred to the council of physicians, dentists and pharmacists of an institution. The community organization shall provide information on the complaints process, help the user define the subject of the complaint, draft the complaint where necessary and provide assistance and support on request to the user at each stage of the proceeding, facilitate conciliation between the user and any authority concerned and contribute, through the support so afforded, to the user’s satisfaction and the enforcement of the user’s rights.”

Source: Publications Québec

Become a member

1/03/2018 | Articles, Au CAAP

The CAAP is a non profit organization that relies on the voluntary support of member organizations and individuals. By supporting its mission, members help create an influential network with a common vision where people can exchange ideas and collaborate.

You can become a CAAP member too!

It’s free.

Benefits

Invitation to our annual general meeting
Invitation to participate in activities organized by the CAAP
The possibility to apply to be on the board of directors

Membership conditions

Individual member

Must be at least 18 years old
Not be under guardianship or curatorship
Not be found unfit by a court
Must be a resident of the Eastern Townships (Estrie)

Organization member

Must be a non-profit organization whose activities are carried out in the territory of the Eastern Townships (Estrie)
Have the membership approved by its board of directors
Appoint a representative (must meet the conditions of an individual member)

Reporting

27/02/2018 | Articles, Au CAAP

Users can also report certain situations to the CAAP if they feel that the rights of one or more users have not been respected. Anyone can notify the CAAP of such a situation. If the person wishes, they can remain anonymous.

A good example of this type of reporting is the report filed by a Salvation Army point of service in March 2017 to raise awareness about a problem in a hospital emergency ward.

Thomas, a Salvation Army employee, contacted his local CAAP to ask for help filing a complaint against the hospital in question. The Salvation Army clientele are often homeless and have mental health and substance abuse issues. As a result, they are often uncooperative at the hospital, even if they require emergency care. Emergency room staff were not well equipped to deal with this type of clientele. They often let patients go without providing them with proper care. Thomas saw this as a form of systemic abuse.

Salvation Army users are very vulnerable and will not file complaints on their own. Since Thomas had observed how users were treated but had not experienced the situation himself, he didn’t know how to make his concerns known to emergency room officials The CAAP advisor offered to help him report the situation. Together, they documented the experiences reported by the Salvation Army in a report that Thomas submitted to the Service Quality and Complaints Commissioner of the hospital in question.

“It got people talking about the issue, identifying behaviours, and recognizing that our clientele is not treated in the same way [as other users]. The CAAP helped us structure our approach, know where we were going, and be more comfortable. We got a quick response because our document was taken seriously. The CAAP gave us credibility. We’d been trying to change things for years.”
– Thomas, Salvation Army case worker

The Commissioner took the report very seriously and measures are being put in place to improve the relationship between the hospital and the Salvation Army.

Need help with your own complaint?

Ask the CAAP for help!

Example of an individual complaint

27/02/2018 | Articles, Au CAAP

Ms. Gauthier(1) requested a semi-private room when she was first hospitalized. However, she ended up in a room with a man and was very uncomfortable because she needed abdominal care. There were no curtains in between the beds because they had been removed for cleaning.

Ms. Gauthier was very disappointed with her experience at the hospital and wanted to file a complaint, but she did not know where or how to go about it. She had heard about the CAAP and decided to call to find out more.

The advisor who spoke to her explained that she would have to file a complaint with the Service Quality and Complaints Commissioner at the hospital where she had been treated and that she could make her complaint by phone or in writing. Ms. Gauthier didn’t feel comfortable phoning the commissioner herself. She told the advisor that she would prefer to file a written complaint, but that it seemed complicated and lengthy, and that she was a little discouraged. The CAAP advisor explained that she could help her draft her complaint. Ms. Gauthier was pleased and made an appointment with the advisor to proceed with the complaint.

During the meeting, the advisor explained to Ms. Gauthier that she was entitled to her privacy and dignity, even at the hospital, and that her desire to file a complaint was legitimate. The advisor took note of the events so she could prepare a letter for Ms. Gauthier to approve and sign. All Ms. Gauthier had to do after that was send it to the commissioner.

The advisor explained to Ms. Gauthier that the Complaints Commissioner would contact her to hear her version of events. She offered to help Ms. Gauthier prepare and even accompany her to the interview. This made Ms. Gauthier feel more confident. She could see that her request was being taken very seriously.

At the end of the commissioner’s investigation, Ms. Gauthier received a letter from the commissioner. The commissioner concluded that Ms. Gauthier’s complaint was justified and informed her that corrective measures had been put in place at the hospital.

According to the commissioner, temporary measures could have been taken to respect Ms. Gauthier’s privacy, such as putting up a portable screen or moving her to a different room. However, since a semi-private room does not exclude the possibility of sharing the room with someone of the opposite sex, Ms. Gauthier learned that she should have been informed of this possibility. In fact, the commissioner told her that she could have asked to change rooms. The Commissioner recognized that Ms. Gauthier had the right to be informed about all of these alternatives.

She therefore asked the hospital admissions manager to correct this by reminding the staff who manage beds to inform patients of all their options. In addition, a written reminder was also sent to all care teams to prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future.

In the end, Ms. Gauthier was able to see that her complaint had helped move things forward.

(1) Not her real name. Any resemblance to actual events experienced by actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Need help with your own complaint?

Ask the CAAP for help!