We acknowledge the importance of protecting the privacy and the rights of individuals with regards to their personal information. This document is our privacy policy and states how we collect and manage your personal information.
We respect your rights to privacy and have a legal obligation to abide by the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act). This act regulates how we handle your personal information and allows you, as an individual to have greater control over the way we handle your personal information. You will be informed why your personal information is being collected, how it will be used and who it will be disclosed to.
What is personal information?
In our policy, the term “personal information” is any information that can be used to personally identify you. This may include your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation. If the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information. Our privacy policy covers all people who use our services or otherwise provide their personal information to us.
For the purposes of this privacy policy, no distinction has been made between the handling of personal information and sensitive information (as that term is defined in the Act); therefore all information will be referred to as “personal information” throughout this document.
What personal information do we collect and hold?
We may collect the following types of personal information:
- your name, address and telephone number;
- your age or date of birth;
- your Medicare number, Veterans’ Affairs number, Health Care Card number, health fund details or pension number;
- current drugs or treatments used by you;
- information relevant to your medical care, including but not limited to your previous and current medical history and your family medical history (where clinically relevant);
- 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; and
- any additional information relating to you that you provide to us directly from other medical centres.
We may also collect some information that is not personal information because it does not identify you or anyone else. For example, we may collect anonymous answers to surveys or aggregated information about how users use our website.
How do we collect your personal information?
We collect your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. When collecting personal information from you, we may collect it in ways including:
- by you completing one of our registration or patient information forms;
- as disclosed by you during the course of a consultation at our medical centre
or - through your access and use of our website.
We may also collect personal information from third parties including:
- information provided on your behalf with your consent;
- from other healthcare providers
- from your employer or prospective employer; or
- from third party bodies such as law enforcement agencies and other government entities.
What happens if we can’t collect your personal information?
If you do not provide us with the personal information described above, some or all of the following may happen:
- we may not be able to provide the requested services to you, either to the same standard or at all; or
- your diagnosis and treatment may be inaccurate or incomplete.
For what purposes do we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information?
We collect personal information about you so that we can perform our duty to provide the best possible quality of service to you.
We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:
- to provide medical services and treatment to you, and to enable you to be attended by medical practitioners
- for administrative and billing purposes;
- to update our records and keep your contact details up to date;
- to process and respond to any complaint made
- to comply with any law, rule, regulation, lawful and binding determination, decision or direction of a regulator, or in co-operation with any governmental authority of any country;
- for the purposes of data research and analysis including conducting clinical trials and proactive screenings and for the purpose of sending you direct marketing communications in relation to these;
- for inclusion in a recall register to be advised of follow up visits and medical updates;
- for the purpose of reporting back to your employer or prospective employer, their authorised representatives and their insurer in the case of a work-related consultation or service;
- to answer enquiries and provide information or advice about existing and new products or services and all matters relevant to the services we provide to you;
- to conduct business processing functions including providing personal information to our related bodies corporate, contractors, service providers or other third parties;
- for the administrative, marketing (including direct marketing), planning, product or service development, quality control.
- to meet obligations of notification to our medical defence organisations or insurers.
Your personal information will not be shared, sold, rented or disclosed other than as described in this Privacy Policy or as permitted under the Act.
To whom may we disclose your information?
We may disclose your personal information to:
- our staff and our medical professionals (permanent and contractual) who provide medical services to you at our medical centre
- related bodies corporate, contractors or service providers for the purposes of operation of our business, fulfilling requests by you, and to otherwise provide products and services to you including, without limitation, web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, and professional advisors such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants;
- suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes;
- your employer or prospective employer, their authorised representatives and their insurer in the case of a work-related consultation or service; and
- any organisation or person for any authorised purpose with your express consent.
We may combine or share any information that we collect from you with information collected by any of our related bodies corporate (within Australia).
We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our products and services that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, fax and email, in accordance with all applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). If, in your dealings with us, you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so. In addition, at any time you may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us or by using opt-out facilities provided in the marketing communications and we will then ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.
How can you access and correct your personal information?
You may request access, correct, and/or update any personal information by contacting us on our telephone or email or during your consultation. Any changes with your personal information will be verified with Medicare.
What is the process for complaining about a breach of privacy?
If you believe that your privacy has been breached, please contact us in accordance with the arrangements set out below and provide details of the incident so that we can investigate it.
Our procedure for investigating and dealing with privacy breaches is for the incident or complaint to be dealt with our practice manager. If the issue cannot be resolved at this level, it will be escalated to NSW respective authority.
Do we disclose your personal information to anyone outside Australia?
No. Unless requested and consented by the you and this must be done in legal process.
We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised 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, and the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot provide any assurance 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.
Our websites 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.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, any concerns or a complaint regarding the treatment of your privacy or a possible breach of your privacy, please contact our medical centre on 02 9059 0711.
We will treat your requests or complaints confidentially. Our practice manager will contact you within a reasonable time after receipt of your complaint to discuss your concerns and outline options regarding how they may be resolved. We will aim to ensure that your complaint is resolved in a timely and appropriate manner.
If you are unable to contact the medical centre at which you received our services, you may contact us by using the following details:
Address: 139 Maitland Street, Narrabri, NSW, 2390
Facebook page: Maitland Street Medical Centre
There will be some changes to this privacy policy as needed. Any updated versions of this privacy policy will be posted on our website.
This privacy policy was last updated on 4 November 2020.
Prior to a patient signing consent to the release of their health information, patients are made aware they can request a full copy of our privacy policy.
Patient consent for the transfer of health information to other providers or agencies involved in the patient’s healthcare (e.g. treating practitioners and specialists outside the practice) is obtained at the patient’s first visit to our practice through the New Patient Information Form. Once signed, this form is scanned into the patient’s health record and its completion is noted.