Women's agencies have raised very serious safety questions with the federal government’s new online health service, My Health Record, saying domestic violence perpetrators can potentially access victims' confidential health records.
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This was disputed by the federal government.
The new My Health Record scheme has begun and Australians have until October 15 to decide whether they want to opt out of the online medical records service.
Women’s Legal Service chief executive Angela Lynch doubted those who framed the online service had considered the situation of women experiencing domestic violence.
“There can be some quite catastrophic consequences if these concerns are not taken into account by policymakers,” Ms Lynch said.
She warned the service would be linked to the MyGov online service, which set out government welfare payments.
“It means that if an abusive partner has a victim's log-in they can already get a range of details through that MyGov website,” Ms Lynch said.
“The victim’s address, her Centrelink details and that sort of thing,” she said.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's February 2018 study into family and domestic violence in Australia reports one in six women experienced, since the age of 15, physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous co-habiting partner.
Ms Lynch said anti-domestic violence groups were now impressing on women to change their MyGov log-in details as soon as they left an abusive relationship.
“But of course a lot of women are not aware of that,” she said.
“If this service is all linked together, his ability to access a range of personal information is much greater.”
A My Health Record media spokesman said an individual can only access another person’s My Health Record if they are appointed by the individual as a "nominated representative", where they can view the information, or an "authorised representative" where they can control the information.
"The person in control of a record - the individual or an 'authorised representative' - can add or remove 'nominated representatives' at any time, the spokesman said.
However, women's agencies say this situation does not consider the real extent of controlling behaviour by some men in domestic violence situations.
Ms Lynch said the situation put great pressure on local doctors and called for policymakers to consult immediately with domestic violence groups.
“We know that some of the greatest disclosures around domestic violence are actually made to GPs. Women trust their GPs to disclose this information,” she said.
Ms Lynch said speaking as a lawyer, it was useful for legal action if there were records of domestic violence made to GPs.
“But the woman, even though she has disclosed it to her GP, may not want it disclosed wider than that to other health professionals.”
The My Health Record spokesman said a woman could place a "record access" code and a "limited document access code" on specific documents and ask their GP not to upload documents.
Belinda Cox, the community and partnerships program manager with the Brisbane Domestic Violence Service, said their organisation saw both benefits and problems with the new online medical records service.
“We don’t necessarily think it’s a terrible thing,” Ms Cox said.
“We actually see it as having some benefits for some women suffering domestic violence, particularly those going from place to place, or who have been uprooted particularly with their children,” she said.
However, Ms Cox said perpetrators – and their friends and relatives – had many ways to get access to women’s medical records.
“And those records can be used against them in family court hearings,” she said.
Ms Cox said some men frequently coerced women into not taking contraception.
“If a woman is experiencing reproductive control or coercion it might impact on her ability to confidentially access contraception or terminations,” she said.
Ms Cox said the federal government briefed Queensland community health organisations in May about the new My Health Record site.
She said protective codes for health information placed by the individuals can be relatively easily sidestepped.
“Look, if someone is under relatively high levels of control, they don’t have controlled access to their own Facebook or email. They don’t have bank accounts. And we also know there are ways and means for perpetrators to get access to people’s records," she said.
“They have friends in other areas who have freedoms to look things up,” she said.
“And they are very cunning and will go to great lengths to get that information.”
Queensland's Minister for Women and Child Safety Di Farmer said she was concerned to hear of potential problems for women suffering domestic violence.
"It is vitally important that no sensitive health information, or any information that can identify the whereabouts of victims of family or domestic violence, gets into the wrong hands," Ms Farmer said.
"If the potential for inappropriate access to sensitive information has been identified, the federal government must take all necessary action to ensure any weak points in the system are strengthened as a matter of the highest priority."
Almost 6 million people, including more than 12,900 doctors and health professionals, have joined the service.
