Multidisciplinary treating teams are common practice in Australian health care. Healthcare practitioners work together and share necessary information to deliver optimum health care. All transfers of information without the knowledge of the patient require careful consideration.
Although the question has not yet been legally tested, private sector health service providers do not always require a patient’s consent to disclose specific health information to another member of a multidisciplinary team for a healthcare purpose, as long as the patient would reasonably expect that information to be shared for a directly related secondary purpose. There would ordinarily be a strong link between what an individual has been told (about the proposed uses and disclosures) or has consented to, and their ‘reasonable expectations’. Therefore, it is advisable to explain to a patient being treated by a multidisciplinary team how this will affect the handling of their health information, and to obtain express consent, so that implied consent need not relied upon. Healthcare practitioners in group practices should formulate clear internal communication protocols in order to exercise reasonable care (e.g. when communicating test results or considering contact tracing issues). All staff must be aware of their obligations, and systems must be in place for protecting patient privacy.
