Information & Privacy Policy
The Privacy Act 1998 requires medical practitioners to obtain consent from their patients to collect, use and disclose that patient's personal information. This means we will collect information that is necessary to properly advise and treat you. Such necessary information may include:
Family medical History
Full medical History
Medicare/Private Health Fund Details
Contact Details
Billing/ account details
This information will normally be collected directly from you. There may be occasions when we will need to obtain information from other sources, for example:
Other medical practitioners, such as former GPs and Specialists
External providers such as x-ray and pathology (blood test) organisations
Hospitals or Day Surgery Units - e.g. previous consultations, test results or operation notes to enable appropriate care
Other healthcare providers such as physiotherapists, pharmacists, dentists, nurses
In emergency situations we may need to collect personal information from relatives or other sources where we are unable to obtain your prior express consent. We will use the next-of-kin information you provide in this case.
Use & Disclosure
With your consent, the practice staff will use and disclose your information for the purposes such as:
Account keeping and bill purposes;
Referral to another medical practitioner or health care provider;
Sending of specimens, such as blood for analysis;
Referral to a hospital for treatment and/or advice;
Advice on treatment options;
The management of our practice;
Quality assurance, practice accreditation and complaint handling:
To meet our obligations of notification to our medical defence;
To prevent or lessen a serious threat to an individual's life health or safety;
Where legally required to do so, such as producing records to court, or notification of diagnosis of certain communicable diseases
To supply results/reports/recommendations to your referring doctor pertaining to your medical management Organisations or insurers.
Access
You are entitled to access your own health records at any time convenient to both yourself and the practice. Access can be denied where:
To provide access would create a serious threat to life or health;
There is a legal impediment to access;
The access would unreasonably impact on the privacy of another;
In the interests of national security;
Your request for the information is frivolous;
The information related to anticipated or actual legal proceedings and you would not be entitled to access the information in those proceedings.
We ask that where possible, your request be in writing. We may impose a charge for staff time involved in processing your request. Where you dispute the accuracy of the information we have recorded, you are entitled to correct that information. It is our practice that we will take all steps to record all of your corrections, and place them with your file.