Privacy policy.
Terrey Hills Medical Centre
Current as of 16th March 2022
Introduction
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.
Consent
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.
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 may also use deidentified patient data for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, and business processes (e.g. staff training).
What personal information do we collect?
The information we will collect includes your:
name, date of birth, addresses, contact details
medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
healthcare identifiers
health fund details (where relevant)
Dealing with us anonymously
You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to provide our services, or unless we are required or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.
Collecting personal information
Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.
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. Information may also be collected through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP) or My Health Record, e.g. via Shared Health Summary
We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social media.
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).
Sharing of Personal Information
We may 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 government agencies (e.g. Medicare, Department of Veterans’ Affairs)
with other healthcare providers (e.g. specialists, medical testing services, or hospital services)
when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. 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 (e.g. some diseases require mandatory notification)
during the course of providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (e.g. via Shared Health Summary)
Where practicable, we will inform you and obtain your consent before sharing your personal information with any third party.
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 may use your de-identified 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 Australia. You can let our reception staff know if you do not want your information included.
Access to your medical records
You have the right to request access to and request the 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 our practice will respond within a reasonable time.
Privacy-related complaints
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. Any privacy concerns you may have, are required to be made in writing to Terrey Hills Medical Centre, by email or letter.
We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure.
You may also contact the OAIC if you have any concerns or complaints. For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 363 992.
This privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any regulatory or legislative changes that may occur.