Your Rights and Responsibilities

In accordance with the Health & Disability Services Code of Consumer Rights, when you are receiving services from Hutt Valley DHB, you have the right to:

• Be treated with respect. This includes respect for your culture, values and beliefs, as well as your right to personal privacy
• Fair treatment. No one should discriminate against you, pressure you into doing something you do not want to do or take advantage of you in any way
• Services which are provided in a way that supports your dignity and independence
• Receive care that meets legal, ethical and professional standards. All those involved in your care will work together to provide quality and continuity of services
• Effective communication and to be listened to. Information should be given in a form,language and manner which you understand.

Full information:

• To have your condition explained to you and be told what your choices are as well as the possible benefits and risks
• To know the name, position and role of any staff involved with your care and
• To take part in decisions about your care and treatment (however, this may be difficult or impossible in emergencies).

Make your own decisions. You can:

• Say no or change your mind at any time
• Refuse treatment if you choose to (in special cases this right may be limited by law)
• Give written (or verbal in some instances)consent before any treatment, procedure or surgery is carried out and
• Give consent before involvement in any research or teaching session (research consent must be written) and you can withdraw from either at any time with out this affecting your care in any way.

Have one or more support persons of your choice present, except where safety may be compromised or another person’s rights maybe unreasonably infringed by this.

Have all these rights apply when taking part in teaching and research situations.

Make a verbal or written complaint.

You can make a complaint by:

• Approaching the person caring for you.
• Approaching the manager of the service
• Contacting our feedback line (Phone 04 806 0724) or email feedback@huttvalleydhb.org.nz, or by writing to Feedback, Quality Team, Hutt Valley DHB, Private Bag 31907, Lower Hutt 5040.
• See our compliments and concerns web page for more information.
• Contacting the Nationwide Health Disability Advocacy (Phone 04 570 0850). This service is independent of Hutt Valley DHB. Complaints can also be made to the Health and Disability Commissioner, (Phone 0800 11 22 33).

Hutt Valley DHB staff are committed to working in partnership with you to achieve the best possible outcome for you.

To assist our staff to achieve this it is expected that you will:

• Be involved in your treatment and care whenever this is possible.
• Inform us if your rights are not being considered
• Be sensitive to the needs of others
• Respect the privacy of other patients/clients
• Provide information that could assist with your care and treatment
• Respect the staff
• Respect the property of Hutt Valley DHB.

It is expected that your support persons/visitors will:

• Respect the right to privacy of other patients/clients
• Respect our visiting hours and the need for all patients/clients to have quiet time for restful periods
• Respect our staff.

Smoking is not permitted within the grounds of any District Health Board site.

Abuse, violence, aggression or unacceptable behaviour

Abuse, violence, aggression or unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated and action will be taken.

It is illegal to display Gang insignia on any DHB premises as stated in the definition of the Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Act 2013.

Hutt Valley DHB collects information about you and your health to provide you with appropriate care; to keep you and others safe; to plan for and fund health services; to carry out teaching and research,and for statistical purposes.

This information is shared with others involved in your care.We will:

• Treat all your information confidentially
• Ensure that your information is kept secure and is only accessed by appropriate and authorised persons. This may include other agencies, where authorised by law, as well as your “home” district health board if we have provided your treatment but you normally reside outside of the Hutt Valley.
• Ask your permission to release your information to family and/or support persons
• Respond to your complaint if your privacy has not been maintained
• Give you access to your records and respond to your request that corrections be made to information in your record.

Transparency Statement

Our transparency statement explains how Hutt Valley DHB collects, manages, uses and shares information about identifiable individuals.

It applies to both HVDHB and our representatives including our employees, contractors and volunteers.

Please click here to see our transparency statement.

For further information contact the Privacy Officer for Hutt Valley DHB (Phone 04 566 6999).

Or you can contact the Privacy Commissioner (Phone 0800 803 909).

Hutt Valley DHB takes great care to ensure the privacy of your health information is respected.

We collect information about you and your health to provide the best possible care and to record important statistics.

Accessing your health information

If you are or have been a patient of Hutt Valley DHB you have the right to ask for, and be given, access to your personal health information.

In most cases we should be able to provide you with the information within 20 working days. If your request is urgent please tell us and the reason why and we will do our best to meet your timeframe.

To request your records for Hutt Valley patients please ring the health records department at Hutt Valley DHB on (04) 566 6999.

Correcting information

If you think that the information we hold is wrong, you can ask for it to be corrected.

Apart from simple factual information, (including name, date of birth and ethnicity), you may be asked to provide a statement about the correction you would like. This statement can be attached to your file.

If you wish to access another person's medical records, we need their consent before we can release the information to you.

Please contact our health records department on (04) 566 6999 for help with any of this.

Transparency Statement

Our transparency statement explains how Hutt Valley DHB collects, manages, uses and shares information about identifiable individuals.

It applies to both HVDHB and our representatives including our employees, contractors and volunteers.

Please click here to see our transparency statement.

In New Zealand, every individual has the legal right to a competent interpreter when meeting with health service providers. A free Interpreter Service is available if you do not speak English as your first language, or have hearing loss and use New Zealand Sign Language. Please discuss this with a member of your healthcare team (e.g. nurse, doctor) to arrange an interpreter.

Patients or their whānau may request a professional interpreter and health professionals will then assess whether an interpreter is necessary to provide safe and adequate healthcare. It’s preferred that family members are not used as interpreters. This is due to a number reasons including the risk of inaccurate interpretation.

 

Deaf or hard of hearing?

iSign is the designated New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) service provider for Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley. The service is available 24-hours. Please discuss this with a member of your healthcare team to arrange a NZSL interpreter.

For more information about iSign visit their website www.isign.co.nz

We welcome feedback on any of the services we provide, be that compliments or complaints.

You may do this verbally or in writing directly to the manager of the service or through our complaints procedure.

“Happy or Unhappy” brochures are also available throughout Hutt Valley DHB services for you to provide written feedback.

How we use social media

We use social media to share health updates, health system information, feedback opportunities, new content from our channels, insights into our work and job vacancies, and other relevant content.

We can’t provide health advice on social media. Consult your GP or call Healthline on 0800 611 116 for health concerns. Dial 111 in emergencies.

If we perceive a risk of harm to someone, we may alert the Police or Netsafe. However, our accounts aren’t monitored 24/7 and aren’t for emergencies. If there’s immediate danger, call 111 or seek mental health services.

Comments and questions

We appreciate your feedback but can’t respond to all comments individually. Our accounts are monitored weekdays 9am-5pm and occasionally outside these hours.

We may share third-party content for informational purposes, without endorsing its accuracy. Following or liking a page doesn’t imply endorsement.

Our employees may participate in online forums. Their views are personal, even when they identify as our staff.

Our staff acting in an official capacity on social media will be responding through a Health New Zealand social media account, on behalf of the organisation. If an employee is speaking on their own social media account in an official capacity for Health New Zealand, they will make this clear in the content.

Enforcing community guidelines

Health New Zealand reserves the right to:

• decide what content we think is inappropriate
  
• hide or remove inappropriate content
  
• ban users from social media communities.

We may delete content which contains:

• racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other hate speech
  
• statements that might be defamatory
  
• confidential information (including personal details or health information)
  
• misinformation or disinformation
  
• spam or advertising
  
• offensive language, abusive language, or threats
  
• statements that are off-topic or derail the conversation
  
• nudity, pornography, or child abuse
  
• excessive violence
  
• content that is illegal, gives instructions on illegal activity, or encourages people to break the law.

If you find content on any of our accounts which breaks these guidelines, please tell us.

We may use comments and messages submitted to our social media pages for reporting, after removing names and other personal details. Email hnzsocialmedia@health.govt.nz if you have concerns or questions about our social media, or any of our content.