We are committed to providing comprehensive, quality care to all individuals and families who attend our Practice. This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our practice, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties.
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our GP’s and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Only staff who need to see your personal information will have access to it. If we need to use your information for anything else, we will seek additional consent from you to do this.
Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide high quality healthcare services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation.
The information we will collect about you includes your:
You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to do so or unless we are required or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.
Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.
In order to provide the highest quality of care for our patients we may be required to share your information. Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than in the course of providing medical services or as otherwise described in this policy, our practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent.
We sometimes share your personal information:
We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.
Our practice will not use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing.
Our practice may use your personal information to improve the quality of the services we offer to our patients through research and analysis of our patient data.
We may provide de-identified data to other organisations to improve population health outcomes. The information is secure, patients cannot be identified and the information is stored within United States of America. You can let our reception staff know if you do not want your information included.
Our clinical software allows the practice to ensure that only relevant information from your medical record is included within referral letters to other health professionals or third parties.
Our patient records are maintained in electronic format on a secure on-site computer system. The information recorded is protected by an individual password system and is accessible only to authorised personnel. Paper based information is converted to electronic format and is destroyed by shredding when no longer required.
Our staff are bound by a strict legal duty of confidentiality. It is an offence for our staff to give information about you to anyone except under limited circumstances set out in legislation. We maintain strict security policies and practices with respect to who has access to personal information about you.
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. Any request to access personal information must made be in writing to the practice via email or in person.
If personal information is provided to you as the result of a request, you will be charged a fee for costs incurred in providing that information such as photocopying, the administration time involved in processing your request, and postage. Please seek advice from our reception staff regarding fee’s associated with receiving personal records.
There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold; however, we will only do so in accordance with our rights and obligations under the Privacy Act. For example, we may need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of others or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality. If that happens, we will give you written reasons for any refusal.
Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. From time to time, we will ask you to verify that your personal information held by our practice is correct and current. Any requests to correct or update personal information may be made in person or in writing to the practice.
Please note that our website uses ‘cookies’. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer’s hard disk for record-keeping purposes, website usage statistics or to provide enhanced functionality on the site. Our cookies may do some or all of these depending on the particular page and its functionality. Generally, the information obtained by cookies is de-identified and does not constitute personal information but may include the IP address of your computer.
You are ultimately in control of your browser’s dealings with cookies. Most browsers are by default set to accept cookies but have the capacity to block or delete them. However, if you do not wish to receive any cookies you should set your browser to refuse cookies. In some instances, this may mean you will not be able to take full advantage of parts of our website. By using our website, you accept the use and installation of these cookies to provide you with these services.
Personal information collected through our website and is electronically stored directly into our practice software. This information is kept private and is not displayed anywhere public.
This Privacy Policy is current as of November 2023 and is reviewed annually. From time to time, we may make changes to our policy, processes, and systems in relation to how we handle your personal information. Any changes made to our policy will be made available on our website and at our practice.