PRIVACY POLICY

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. 

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 (eg staff training, newsletters). 

What personal information do we collect? 

The information we will collect about you includes your:

  • names, 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.

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.

  1. When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration. 
  2. During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information such as through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP), My Health Record, eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary. 
  3. 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. 
  4. 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). 

When, why and with whom do we share your 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 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 may use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you with your consent. If you do consent, you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing or unsubscribing to the email.

Our practice may use your 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. 

 

How do we store and protect your personal information?

Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms such as electronic records.

Our practice stores all personal information securely. Our IT and electronic systems are protected through passwords and encryption, and we have confidentiality agreements for staff and contractors. 

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 through email and our practice will respond within a reasonable time, up to 30 days. The cost for accessing this information is the cost of a standard appointment as per our fee schedule.

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 in writing to Practice Manager on admin@balwynmedical.com.au 

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. Concerns should be addressed to Practice Manager on admin@balwynmedical.com.au or Practice Manager, 353 Balwyn Road, Balwyn North, 3104. You will receive a response within 30 days. 

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. 

Privacy and our website 

We may collect your personal information through other digital forms, such as third party booking providers or via our website. Sharing of Information:

  • We will not share your personal information with third parties without your consent, except as required by law or to provide you with healthcare services.
  • We may share aggregate, non-identifiable information with third-party service providers to help us improve our website and services.

Cookies:

  • We use cookies on our website to track user behavior and improve the user experience. You can choose to disable cookies in your browser settings, but this may affect the functionality of our website.

Data Security:

  • We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no website or electronic storage system is completely secure.

 

COMMUNICATION POLICY

Introduction

This Communication policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how you can contact and communicate with our practice. 

Face To Face

This can be via consultation with your doctor or nurse or interactions with other practice staff.

Telephone

Patients can contact the practice via telephone between 9:00am and 6:00pm Monday to Friday and 9:00am to 92:00pm on Saturday. Outside of those times, we have an automatic recorded message on our telephone system. We do not have any voicemail.

Our reception staff may use a triage system to assess the urgency of the patients’ needs and concerns. Our reception staff will also perform a three-point identity check to ensure the correct patient file is matched to the patient on the phone.

Doctors are unavailable by phone unless you have booked a telehealth appointment or in the event of an emergency. Our doctors are consulting during surgery hours and interruptions must be kept to a minimum as a courtesy to other patients. You can leave your query with reception who will send the doctor a secure message or ask the doctor between patients. Where clinically significant information is discussed, a note will be made in the patient’s file.

Fax

Incoming faxes that are patient related are imported directly into the patient’s file. These are then reviewed and actioned by the doctor. Any urgent patient related faxes are immediately handed to the doctor or if that doctor is not available another doctor in the practice will review the fax.

All outgoing faxes are double-checked before being sent to confirm they are being sent to the correct recipient.

Email

Email is not a secure form of communication and we do not use this to communicate personal information to patients without their consent. Patients must be aware that any communication they direct to the surgery via email is also NOT secure and confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Patients communicating through email do so at their own risk.

If you do choose to contact the surgery via email, this is considered as patient consent for our staff to reply via email. Our staff endeavor to respond to email messages within 24 hours. If you have an issue that requires urgent attention, we request that you contact the practice via telephone.

SMS

SMS messages are sent to remind patients of scheduled appointments, health reminders and health recalls. Please make sure you update the practice if there is a change to your mobile number. Please let us know if you would like to be removed from the SMS list. Patients must be aware that if another person can access their mobile phone, then the confidentiality of these communications cannot be protected by the practice.

Post

For patients who have opted out of SMS, a letter may be sent regarding reminders or recalls. Letters received by the practice are scanned into the patient file and forwarded to the doctor to review.

Website

Our website is updated regularly and contains the practice contact details, location, opening hours and information regarding fees and services offered. Our online booking details are also available.

Communicating With Patients With Special Needs

A contact list of translator and interpreter services and services for patients with a disability is maintained, updated regularly and readily available to all staff at reception. These include:

Discussing Medical Information

The Practice Manager and reception staff members are not qualified to provide medical advice and are not entitled to discuss any medical information over phone, email, or any other communication channel. If you wish to discuss your health, you will need to make an appointment with a doctor or nurse.