Schools hand girls' info to health board

BY JANINE RANKIN

The privacy of hundreds of girls has been breached by schools giving their personal contact details to district health boards.

Federation of Women's Health Councils co-convener Barbara Robson said some families throughout the country could now expect home visits from public health nurses asking why they haven't returned consent forms about vaccinations.

That's behaviour that verges on "coercive" and "potentially alienating", she said.

In the MidCentral Health district, public health nurses have asked for the phone numbers and addresses of all girls in Year 8, 12 and 13 from 91 schools, according to a letter to the federation from funding manager Mike Grant.

The personal information for more than 3600 girls has come from school rolls, from consent forms, and from rolls released after consent forms were returned. At least three schools refused direct access to personal details held on their rolls.

The roll information has been collected as part of the HPV vaccination campaign that offers teenage girls free vaccination against sexually transmitted viruses that can cause cervical cancer.

Ross Intermediate principal Wayne Codyre said the school would have only refused releasing contact details if it knew the phone numbers were confidential. "I think it's sad and narrow-minded not to release information when it's for the betterment of students," he said.

Awatapu College principal Tina Sims said the board of trustees thought giving nurses contact information held by the school was a breach of privacy.

"The board was very clear that we would provide names and dates of birth only."

Mrs Sims said the college was happy to work with health nurses to hand out information about the vaccination programme, and allow vaccination to be carried out at school for those who wanted it.

"[But] we don't believe it appropriate for us to facilitate contact with students and parents that they might not wish to have."

Mr Grant said each girl's name, address, date of birth, day and evening phone numbers and their school room number had been provided by many schools taking part in the vaccination programme.

That information has been fed into the School Based Vaccination System, an electronic database first trialled during the MenZB vaccination programme.

Mrs Robson said there was a concerning level of "misunderstanding and confusion" about the processes that should have been followed.

She said Privacy Commission advice had been clear that before school roll data could be shared, school communities should be notified, and parents and girls given the opportunity to opt out.

The roll sharing also appears to be at odds with guidance from School Board of Trustees president Lorraine Kerr, who recommended boards think carefully before releasing phone numbers that had been provided for school purposes only.

In February she said roll information about individuals should only be released after completed consent forms had been returned.

THE PRINCIPALS' POINT OF VIEW

What the principals say about releasing girls' personal contact details to the MidCentral District Health Board:

Joanne How, Roslyn School: We don't give out phone numbers to anyone. We haven't given them phone numbers, only the names and room numbers. It's school policy. We have a lot of confidential family situations, we just don't do it. And there's no way they could get it off our server.

John Forsyth, Monrad Intermediate: I believe the information was released after we got the signed consent form from the parent. We have regular close contact with public health nurses and are not aware there's any issue.

David Jopson, Intermediate Normal: It's covered on our enrolment form, "this information may be shared with health and other education agencies ... The records made from this information may be viewed on request at the school".

Melba Scott, Palmerston North Girls' High School: The process was that we sent out the consent forms and asked for a return from everyone, whether they said yes or no to vaccination. We did not release school roll data until those were back. This was to help with their data entry it makes it easier and less expensive to provide the information electronically.

Michael Houghton, Queen Elizabeth College: My understanding is we did not release information as such, it was from the consent forms. We worked closely with the nurse and students.

Bruce Sharp, Longburn Adventist College: We released the roll information they asked for, including name, number and address, we informed parents, and arranged an information evening. Nobody bothered to come.

Peter Brooks, Freyberg High School: The board looked at the request (for roll information and details) and decided it was in the best interests of the girls that we provide it. We were happy with the board's information about confidentiality and safeguards.

Christine Michalski, Carncot School: We sat down with the nurse to discuss it, met with parents and consent forms were handed out. There was no electronic transfer of information.

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