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This investigation was initiated as a result of a complaint concerning the Ministry of Community and Social Services (the Ministry).
The complainant, who is with the Adult Protective Association of Ontario, was concerned about the Ministry's collection of personal information from the files of developmentally challenged clients (the clients) served by the Adult Protective Services Program (APSP). The APSP is sponsored by Network North, a community mental health group which receives majority funding from the Ministry of Health. However, the APSP is funded by the Ministry.
The complainant advised that on two separate occasions, a Program Supervisor with the Ministry collected personal information from clients' files. On the first occasion, Network North's Adult Protective Service Workers (APSWs) received an internal memo asking for the names of and the services offered to Network North's clients. Each client was sent a form to sign, granting consent to the disclosure, transmittal or examination of their clinical records. The complainant stated that approximately seven clients did not return the consent form. The APSWs then completed summaries of the information requested for all the clients, but did not include the names of the seven clients who had not returned a signed consent form. The information was then forwarded to the Program Supervisor.
However, subsequently, despite the objection of an APSW, file summaries of the seven clients who had not signed consent forms, together with their names, were also forwarded to the Program Supervisor at his request. In the complainant's view, the collection of the personal information belonging to the seven non-consenting clients was not in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act).
The complainant stated that a second collection took place when the Program Supervisor visited two Network North rural health clinics providing services to the clients, and conducted a file review without obtaining the clients' consent. The complainant further stated that an APSW attempted to address confidentiality concerns with the Program Supervisor but was informed that the APSWs would not be permitted to participate in the file review. Notes were taken by the Program Supervisor on a lap-top computer. The complainant felt that the Program Supervisor's collection of the clients' personal information without their consent was also not in compliance with the Act.
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