To provide professional and thorough medical care, Warragamba Medical and Allied Health Centre/Warragamba Medical and Cosmetic Centre will need to attain, record and update patient information including personal information and medical history. This information is vital in providing a quality, safe and timely service. By attending the practice, a patient will need to agree to our terms, and privacy policy.
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 situations in which we may share it with third parties.
Why and when patient 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 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. Patient registration also requires consent for deidentified patient health information to be utilised by third parties (via the primary health network only) for the purposes of quality improvement and clinical audit activities. 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 personal information?
Our practice needs to collect personal information to provide healthcare services to a patient. The main purpose for collecting, using, and sharing personal information is to manage health. It is also used for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, business processes (e.g., staff training) and quality improvement activities. Examples include:
- Disclosure to healthcare providers outside of the practice including (but not limited to) –Specialists, Public & Private Hospitals, Nurses, Community Health Services, Allied Health and other providers.
- Disease Notification to Public Health Units as required by legislative or regulatory requirements.
- Screening Activities – For example National Pap Test Register
- Billing (including Medicare, Health Insurance Commission, Workcover and Banking)
- Continuous Improvement – including accreditation, audit, safety and training.
- Recalls and Reminders – sent back to you via SMS, Email, Phone or Letter to facilitate ongoing healthcare.
What personal information is collected?
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. 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.
Dealing with us anonymously:
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.
How do we collect your 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. While providing medical services, we may collect further personal information. We may also collect your personal information when you 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). Information can also be collected through My Health Record, e.g., via Shared Health Summary and an Event Summary and by Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions.
My Health Record
If you choose to participate in the My Health Record program operated by the Commonwealth Department of Health, we may access the personal information it contains. We may also disclose your personal information by uploading your health information electronically to the My Health Record system if requested to do so. If you do not want us to access personal information stored in your My Health Record or upload health information to it, you may opt out or choose to modify access controls within the My Health Record system.
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.
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. 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 our 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 by you.
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 meet obligations of notification to our medical defense organisations or insurers.
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.
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.
when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g., some diseases require mandatory notification).
Only people that need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than while 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.
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.
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 in Australia. Patients may opt out of this by advising the reception staff if they don’t want their information included.
Who has access to your Information? – All Staff (Reception, Management, Nurses and Doctors) are fully briefed about patient privacy and are subject to this policy and RACGP Standards. Staff are re-educated on this policy periodically. Any breaches by staff are considered very serious and may lead to termination. Clinical information can only be excess by our clinical staff.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms. These forms may be as an electronic record, paper records, visual x-rays and video recordings for training purposes.
Our practice stores all personal information securely.
All data, both electronic and paper, are stored and managed in accordance with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Computer and Information Security Standards (CISS) and the requirements of Warragamba Medical Centre Business Continuity Plan. All employees and third parties have confidentiality agreements in place.
Electronic format: Files are stored securely in a Practice Management System, and encryption and passwords are changed regularly. Our systems comply with RACGP standards and Australian Privacy Legislation.
Disposal of Paper Records – All paper records that are required for the long-term record are scanned and kept electronically. All paper is shredded onsite.
Security
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.
Website
When you use our website(s), we do not identify you as an individual user and do not collect personal information about you, unless you specifically provide this to us.
Our website(s) may use cookies that allow us to gather anonymised statistics relating to the management of our website(s). These analytics may include, but are not limited to, your internet service provider (ISP), domain name, browser type and the pages you visit.
Our website(s) and our email communications may contain links to third-party websites. We do not control third-party websites or any of their content and if you visit these websites, they will be governed by their own terms of use (including privacy policies). You should satisfy yourself of the personal information handling policies of third-party website operators.
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 our practice will respond within a reasonable time.
The surgery will respond to this request within one week of receiving this request.
Fees associated with providing this information will be $38.00 for the first 33 pages and $1.40 thereafter plus registered post fee. Once payment is received copy of file will be sent by registered post to your nominated GP.
Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. 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 could do this while in consultation with your doctor or make such requests in writing.
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 attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure. Please send your privacy-related complaint to:
Practice Manager
Warragamba Medical Centre
39 Fourteenth Street
Warragamba NSW 2752
Your complaint will be investigated, and outcome advised within 30 days. You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Generally the OAIC will require time to respond, before they will investigate. For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 336 002. Alternatively, you can access the Health Care Complaints Commission; 1800 043 159 www.hccc.nsw.gov.au
Policy review statement
This privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. Patients will be advised by signage in the practice when this policy is amended.
Warragamba Medical Centre acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
Links
National Mental Health Helpline: 1300 643 287 https://www.mhfa.org.au/