Privacy policy
Introduction
We are committed to protecting the privacy of patient information and to handling your personal information in a responsible manner in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, the Australian Privacy Principles and relevant state and Territory privacy legislation (referred to as privacy legislation).
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, how you may access that information and how you may seek the correction of any information. It also explains how you may make a complaint about a breach of privacy legislation.
From time to time we may make changes to our policy, processes and systems in relation to how we handle your personal information. We will update this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes. Changes will be available in the practice and on our website.
Collection
We collect information that is necessary and relevant to provide you with medical care and treatment, and manage our medical practice. This information may include your name, address, date of birth, gender, health information, family history, credit card and direct debit details and contact details. This information may be stored on our computer medical records system and/or in hand-written medical records.
Wherever practicable we will only collect information from you personally. However, we may also need to collect information from other sources such as treating specialists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals and other health care providers. We collect information in various ways, such as over the phone or in writing, in person in our practice or over the internet if you transact with us online. This information may be collected by medical and non-medical staff.
In emergency situations we may also need to collect information from your relatives or friends.
We may be required by law to retain medical records for certain periods of time depending on your age at the time we provide services.
Use and disclosure
We will treat your personal information as strictly private and confidential. We will only use or disclose it for purposes directly related to your care and treatment, or in ways that you would reasonably expect that we may use it for your ongoing care and treatment. For example, the disclosure of blood test results to your specialist or requests for x-rays.
There are circumstances where we may be permitted or required by law to disclose your personal information to third parties. For example, to Medicare, police, insurers, solicitors, government regulatory bodies, tribunals, courts of law, hospitals, or debt collection agents. We may also, from time to time, provide statistical data to third parties for research purposes.
We may disclose information about you to outside contractors to carry out activities on our behalf, such as an IT service provider, solicitor or debt collection agent. We impose security and confidentiality requirements on how they handle your personal information. Outside contractors are required not to use information about you for any purpose except for those activities we have asked them to perform.
Digital consultation notes
Some of our doctors choose to use an AI scribe or transcription tool, such as Lyrebird Health or Heidi Health, to help prepare their consultation notes. This is not a practice-wide system. Each doctor who uses one does so under their own subscription and remains responsible for how it handles your information, so you are welcome to ask your doctor how their tool works and where your information is processed.
Where your doctor uses such a tool, they will ask for your consent first, and you can decline or ask them to stop at any time without affecting your care. The tool prepares a draft of the notes, which your doctor reviews and enters into your medical record in our clinical software.
We do not use computer programs to make decisions about your care that have a legal or similarly significant effect on you without a person involved. Where an AI tool helps prepare your notes, your doctor reviews the result before it is used.
At all times we are required to ensure your details are treated with the utmost confidentiality. Your records are very important and we will take all steps necessary to ensure they remain confidential.
Data quality and security
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete, up to date and relevant. For this purpose, our staff may ask you to confirm that your contact details are correct when you attend a consultation. We request that you let us know if any of the information we hold about you is incorrect or out of date.
Personal information that we hold is protected by:
- securing our premises;
- placing passwords and varying access levels on databases to limit access and protect electronic information from unauthorised interference, access, modification and disclosure; and
- providing locked cabinets and rooms for the storage of physical records.
In the unlikely event of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm, we will respond in line with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where required.
Corrections
If you believe that the information we have about you is not accurate, complete or up to date, we ask that you contact us in writing (see details below).
Access
You are entitled to request access to your medical records. We request that you put your request in writing and we will respond to it within a reasonable time. There may be a fee for the administrative costs of retrieving and providing you with copies of your medical records.
We may deny access to your medical records in certain circumstances permitted by law, for example, if disclosure may cause a serious threat to your health or safety. We will always tell you why access is denied and the options you have to respond to our decision.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the privacy of your personal information, we request that you contact us in writing in the first instance. Upon receipt of a complaint we will consider the details and attempt to resolve it in accordance with our complaints handling procedures.
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of a complaint or its outcome, you may refer your privacy complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992. As a NSW health service provider, you may also contact the NSW Information and Privacy Commission at ipc.nsw.gov.au or on 1800 472 679.
Complaints about the care or service you received, rather than your privacy, can be directed to the Health Care Complaints Commission at hccc.nsw.gov.au or on 1800 043 159.
Overseas transfer of data
We will not transfer your personal information to an overseas recipient unless we have your consent or we are required to do so by law.
Contact
Please direct any queries, complaints, or requests for access to medical records to our Practice Manager or Office Manager.