We recognize the importance of protecting the privacy and the rights of your personal information. 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.
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our GPs 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.
Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?
Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide 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, and business processes.
What personal information do we collect?
The information we will collect about you includes your:
- Names, date of birth, addresses, contact details;
- Your Medicare number, Veterans’ Affairs number, Health Care Card number, health fund details or pension number;
- Medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors;
- Your ethnic background;
- Your profession, occupation or job title;
- The name of any health service provider or medical specialist to whom you are referred, copies of any letters of referrals and copies of any reports back;
- Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes;
- Healthcare identifiers;
- Health fund details.
How do we collect your personal information?
Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.
- When you complete one of our registration or patient forms online or at our practice;
- Through your access and use of our website;
- When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration;
- During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information;
- We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, or by making an online appointment;
- In some circumstances personal information may also be collected from other sources. Often this is because it is not practical or reasonable to collect it from you directly. This may include information from:
- your guardian or responsible person
- other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
- your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary)
- Your employer or prospective employer; or
- From third party bodies such as law enforcement agencies and other government entities.
If you are unable to provide us with the personal information described above, we may not be able to provide the requested services to you.
When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?
We sometimes share your personal information:
- with third parties who work with our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or information technology providers – these third parties are required to comply with APPs and this policy
- with other healthcare providers;
- when it is required or authorised by law (eg court subpoenas);
- when it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent;
- to assist in locating a missing person;
- to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim;
- for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process;
- when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (eg some diseases require mandatory notification);
- during the course of providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).
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 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.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms.
Our practice stores all personal information securely. Your personal electronic record can only be accessed by those given permission to access using individual logins and passwords at Freshwater Family Medical Centre.
Any older hard copies of your records are kept in a secure area, only accessed by approved staff.
How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?
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. We require you to put this request in writing and we will respond within a reasonable time. Your request will be assessed as to photocopying and/or postage needs.
If it is a large file there may be a fee for the expenses for copying and postage. We will inform you of these costs prior to acting on your request.
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. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests either in writing or in person with our reception team.
How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled at our practice?
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure.
Please address your concerns firstly to our Management Team:
Alternatively, you can post your concerns to:
PO Box 84
Freshwater NSW 2096
You may also contact the OAIC. Generally, the OAIC will require you to give them time to respond before they will investigate. For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 363 992.
Security
We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. We may hold your information in either electronic or hard copy form. Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed.
As our website is linked to the internet, we cannot provide complete guarantee regarding the security of transmission of information you communicate to us online. We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet. Accordingly, any personal information or other information which you transmit to us online is transmitted at your own risk.
Links
Our website may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party website. Third party websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices.
Policy review statement
We regularly review our policies and change them accordingly from time to time. Any updated versions of this privacy policy will be posted on our website.
This privacy policy was last updated 20 May 2024.
