11. (1) A health services provider shall, when providing a health service to an individual on or after the coming into operation of this subsection—

(a) subject to paragraph (b), request the individual to provide his or her individual health identifier (if any) to the provider, or

(b) in the case of an individual who may require the assistance of another person to provide the individual’s individual health identifier (if any) to the provider (whether due to the age or lack of capacity of the individual or for any other reason), request the other person to provide the individual’s individual health identifier to the provider.

(2) Where a health services provider is provided with an individual’s individual health identifier pursuant to subsection (1), or where the provider is able to establish the individual’s individual health identifier by virtue of the other identifying particulars provided to the provider by the individual or another person pursuant to a request of the provider, the provider shall—

(a) associate that identifier with the record that the provider makes, or causes to be made, of the provision of the health service concerned, and

(b) indicate that identifier in any relevant communication.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of section 7(2)to (6), an individual to whom a health service is provided by a health services provider, or who seeks to have a health service provided to him or her by a health services provider, shall give his or her individual health identifier to the provider when requested to do so by the provider if—

(a) the individual has an individual health identifier, and

(b) the individual health identifier is known to the individual.

(4) A health services provider shall not refuse to provide a health service to an individual, to which he or she would otherwise be entitled, solely because—

(a) an individual health identifier has not been assigned to the individual,

(b) the individual cannot or refuses to provide his or her individual health identifier,

(c) the individual cannot or refuses to provide other identifying particulars in accordance with a request under section 7(2) or subsection (2), or

(d) the provider does not have access to the National Register of Individual Health Identifiers at the time when the individual is seeking to obtain the health service.

(5) Where paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (4) applies, the health services provider shall make a note of that fact in the record that the provider makes, or causes to be made, of the provision of the health service concerned.

(6)(a) The Minister may, for a relevant purpose or for the purpose of performing a function conferred on him or her by this Act or another enactment, process or further process an individual’s relevant information (individual), including by providing such information to a specified person in order to enable the specified person to process such information for a relevant purpose.

(b) The Minister may provide an individual’s relevant information (individual) to an authorised disclosee in order to enable the authorised disclosee to process that information for a secondary purpose.

(c) Subject to paragraph (d), a specified person may, for a relevant purpose, process or further process an individual’s relevant information (individual) that the specified person has obtained pursuant to, and in accordance with, a provision of this Act, including by providing such information to the Minister or another specified person in order to enable the Minister or other specified person, as the case may be, to process the relevant information (individual) for a relevant purpose.

(d) Subject to section 3(7)(a) and (8), paragraph (c) does not apply to any relevant information (individuals) that falls within a class of relevant information (individuals) prescribed as a class of relevant information (individuals) to which that paragraph does not apply.

(e) Subject to paragraph (f) a specified person may provide an individual’s relevant information (individual) that the specified person has obtained pursuant to, and in accordance with, a provision of this Act to an authorised disclosee in order to enable the authorised disclosee to process the relevant information (individual) for a secondary purpose.

(f) Subject to section 3(7)(b) and (c) and (8), paragraph (e) does not apply to any, or any combination, of the following:

(i) any relevant information (individuals) that falls within a class of relevant information (individuals) prescribed as a class of relevant information (individuals) to which that paragraph does not apply;

(ii) a secondary purpose that falls within a class of secondary purposes prescribed as a class of secondary purposes to which that paragraph does not apply.

(7) In this section “relevant communication”, in relation to a health services provider and an individual, means a communication—

(a) relating to a relevant purpose, and

(b) sent by the provider to—

(i) the Minister,

(ii) another specified person,

(iii) an authorised disclosee, or

(iv) the individual.