Communications in the Healthcare Practice

Effective legally compliant communication is essential for delivering quality patient care and building good practitioner-patient relationships based on compassion and shared respect. Clear, accurate, and timely communication is absolutely essential to maximizing performance and decreasing risk exposure.

National Health Act, 2003, Act No 68 of 2003

Section 18: Laying of complaints

• Any person may lay a complaint about the manner in which he or she was treated at a health establishment and have the complaint investigated. (subsection 1)
• The procedures for laying complaints must –
  • be displayed by all health establishments in a manner that is visible for any person entering the establishment and the procedure must be communicated to users (patients) on a regular basis;
  • in the case of a private health establishment, allow for the laying of complaints with the head of the relevant establishment; (subsections 3[a] and [b])

Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002, Act No 25 of 2002 (ECT Act)

The ECT Act is one of many sources of law which impact on electronic communications and transactions and must not be read in isolation of relevant statutory and common law. It applies to any form of communication by e-mail, the Internet, SMS etc except for possibly voice communications between 2 people.

Section 1: Definitions

• “electronic communication” means a communication by means of data messages;
• “data message” means data generated, sent, received or stored by electronic means and includes
  • voice, where the voice is used in an automated transaction; and
  • a stored record;

Section 15. Admissibility and evidential weight of data messages

• In any legal proceedings, the rules of evidence must not be applied so as to deny the admissibility of a data message, in evidence
  • on the mere grounds that it is constituted by a data message; or
  • if it is the best evidence that the person adducing it could reasonably be expected to obtain, on the grounds that it is not in its original form.
• Information in the form of a data message must be given due evidential weight.
• In assessing the evidential weight of a data message, regard must be had to
  • the reliability of the manner in which the data message was generated, stored or communicated;
  • the reliability of the manner in which the integrity of the data message was maintained;
  • the manner in which its originator was identified; and
  • any other relevant factor.
• A data message made by a person in the ordinary course of business, or a copy or printout of or an extract from such data message certified to be correct by an officer in the service of such person, is on its mere production in any civil, criminal, administrative or disciplinary proceedings under any law, the rules of a self regulatory organisation or any other law or the common law, admissible in evidence against any person and rebuttable proof of the facts contained in such record, copy, printout or extract.

Section 16: Retention

• Where a law requires information to be retained, that requirement is met by retaining such information in the form of a data message, if
  • the information contained in the data message is accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference;
  • the data message is in the format in which it was generated, sent or received, or in a format which can be demonstrated to represent accurately the information generated, sent or received; and
  • the origin and destination of that data message and the date and time it was sent or received can be determined.
• The obligation to retain information as contemplated in subsection (1) does not extend to any information the sole purpose of which is to enable the message to be sent or received.

Companies Act, 2008, Act No 71 of 2008

Section 32: Use of company name and registration number

• Every company must have its name and registration number mentioned in legible
  characters in all notices and other official publications of the company, including such
  notices and publications in electronic format as contemplated in the Electronic
  Communications and Transactions Act, and in all bills of exchange, promissory notes,
  cheques and orders for money or goods and in all letters, delivery notes, invoices,
  receipts and letters of credit of the company. (subsection 4)
• Contravention of subsection (1), (2), (3) or (4) is an offence. (subsection 5)
• A company, or incorporator, shareholder or director of a company, or a person
  acting with the authority or on behalf of the company, must not, by any act or omission,
  misrepresent to any person, in any way or to any degree, the true legal status of the
  company. (subsection 6)
• Despite section 19(2), if a person contravenes subsection (6), a court, on
  application by any person affected by that failure, may impose personal liability on any
  shareholder, director or incorporator of the company for any liability or obligation of the
  company, to the extent that the court determines to be just and equitable in the
  circumstances. (subsection 7)

Close Corporations Act, 1984, Act No 69 of 1984

Section 23: Use and publication of names

Every corporation shall have that name (or such translation thereof) and registration number mentioned in legible characters in all notices and other official publications of the corporation, including notices or other official publications in electronic format, and in all bills of exchange, promissory notes, endorsements, cheques and orders for money, goods or services purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the corporation, and all letters, delivery notes, invoices, receipts and letters of credit of the corporation; [subsection 1(b)].

Section 41: Publication of names of members

• A corporation shall not issue or send to any person any business letter, whether in electronic or any other format, bearing a registered name of the corporation, unless the forenames (or the initials) and surname of every member thereof are stated thereon. (subsection 1)
• Any corporation which contravenes any provision of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence. (subsection 2)

Consumer Protection Act , 2008, Act No 68 of 2008

Section 79: Identification of supplier

• A person must not carry on business, advertise, promote, offer to supply or supply any goods or services, or enter into a transaction or agreement with a consumer under any name except –
  • the person’s full name as—
    (i) recorded in an identity document or any other recognised identification document, in the case of an individual; or
    (ii) registered in terms of a public regulation, in the case of a juristic person; or
  • a business name registered to, and for the use of, that person in terms of section 80, or any other public regulation.
• A person doing anything contemplated in subsection (1) must include the following particulars on any trade catalogue, trade circular, business letter, order for
  goods, sales record or statement of account that the person issues:
  • The name, title or description under which the business is carried on;
  • a statement of the primary place at which, or from which, the business is carried on; and
  • if the activity is carried on under a business name, the name of the person to whom that business name is registered.
• If a person—
  • does anything contemplated in subsection (1) under a name that is not that person’s full name, or a business name registered to that person, the
    Commission may issue a compliance notice to that person, in terms of section 100, requiring the person –
    (i) within a reasonable time, to –
    (aa) apply for registration of the business name in terms of section 80; or
    (bb) discontinue that conduct under that business name; and
    (ii) if the application to register that business name is unsuccessful for any reason contemplated in this Part, to discontinue that conduct under that
    name within 40 business days after receiving notice of the failure of the application;
  • fails to comply with any requirement of subsection (2), the Commission may issue a compliance notice to the person in terms of section 100; or
  • does anything contemplated in subsection (1) under a business name that is registered to another person, that other person may apply to the court for an order contemplated in subsection (4).
• The court hearing an application contempl

HPCSA Booklet 5: Confidentiality, Protecting and Providing Information

Paragraph 5: Protecting Information

• The National Health Act requires that healthcare providers (which includes health care practitioners) and health care establishments are responsible for personal information about their patients and must make sure that such information is effectively protected against improper disclosure at all times. For example, this means that employees such as clerks and receptionists must also be trained to respect the confidentiality of patients when dealing with personal information.
• Many improper disclosures are unintentional. Healthcare practitioners should not discuss information about patients where they can be overheard or leave patients’ records where they are vulnerable to disclosure, either on paper or electronically, where they can be seen by other patients, unauthorised healthcare personnel or the public. Healthcare practitioners should endeavour to ensure that their consultations with patients are private

Paragraph 11: Electronic Processing of Information

• Healthcare practitioners must be satisfied that there are appropriate arrangements for the security of personal information when it is stored, sent or received by fax, computer, email or other electronic means.
• If necessary, healthcare practitioners should take appropriate authoritative professional advice on how to keep information secure before connecting to a network. They should record the fact that they have taken such advice.
• Healthcare practitioners must make sure that their own fax machine and computer terminals are in secure areas. If they send data by fax, they should satisfy themselves, as far as is practicable, that the data cannot be intercepted or seen by anyone other than the intended recipient.

Explore the topics on this page to learn more about privacy issues with regards to communications and find a variety of useful information for individuals, businesses and medical practices.

Faxing Personal or Special Personal Information

Faxes represent an imperfect form of communication. Sometimes, faxes do not reach their intended destination, whether it is as
a result of human error in the dialing of the number, or because of a technical glitch.

Instant Messaging Security and Usage Guideline

Because many Instant Message (IM) systems (sending of sms’s) are not designed with security features, hackers have found it easy to plant viruses, spyware, phishing scams, spam over IM (spam), and a wide variety of worms.

Emailing Personal or Special Personal Information

Email poses risks to the privacy of individuals and to the security of personal information. It is important for practice administrators to understand these risks and take steps to mitigate them before using email in their professional communications.