How do we protect your privacy?
Every effort is made by Clocktower Medical Centre in Sale to ensure that your privacy is a top priority, within the consulting area, the waiting room and in any interactions you have with us online.
WHEN DOES PRIVACY APPLY?
When you register as a patient at Clocktower Medical Centre, you provide consent for our GP’s and practice staff to access and use your personal information. This allows them to provide you with the best possible healthcare. Staff will only access your personal information if it is necessary to help you maintain your health, or for your care and treatment
Privacy considerations apply during: contact with practitioners, telephone or video conversations, discussions with other staff and patient medical records. They also apply during any contact with your broader treating team outside of our practice, and third party interactions.
The maintenance of privacy requires that any information regarding individual patients, including staff members who may be patients, must not be disclosed in any form (verbally, in writing, electronic forms inside/outside our practice) except for strictly authorised use within the patient care context at our practice or as legally directed.
Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?
Clocktower Medical Centre will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. Your personal information is primarily collected, used, held and shared so that we can help you manage your health. We also use your personal information for activities directly related to our practice and business. This includes financial transactions, Medicare claims and payments, practice audits, and any accreditation-related activities.
What personal information do we collect?
The information we collect about you includes:
• Your name, date of birth, address and contact details
• Your email address to communicate with you about health and practice-related matters
• Your mobile phone number so we can send you an SMS to confirm appointments and/or otherwise communicate with you (eg for reminders and recalls)
• Your medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history, personal risk factors, and cultural history
• Your Medicare number (where available) for claiming purposes
How do we collect your personal information?
1. Our practice staff will collect your personal information when you make your first appointment, and whenever you have any changes.
2. Our healthcare team may collect further personal information during the course of providing you with healthcare services. With your verbal (and/or written) permission, we may sourced this information from other healthcare and pathology providers, hospitals, specialists, allied health providers, pharmacists, as well as your MyHealth Record (where applicable).
3. We may also collect your personal information when you send us an email, call 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
• Medicare, or the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (as necessary).
• Your relatives or friends who you have nominated in an emergency
Who do we share your personal information with?
We sometimes share your personal information:
• With third parties who work with our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies, and clinical team members such as allied health providers and pharmacists
• With other healthcare providers, both within and outside of the practice
• When it is required or authorised by law (eg court subpoenas)
• When it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a you or another patient’s life, health or safety, or public health or safety, or when it is impractical to obtain your consent
• To assist in locating a missing person
• To establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
• For the purpose of confidential dispute resolution processes
• When there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (eg some diseases require mandatory notification)
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.
From time to time, we may contact you in relation to your health and the services that we provide.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Our practice is multi-disciplinary. This means we have a range of health care providers, including general practitioners, nurses, allied health providers and non-clinical staff.
To ensure effective management of each patient’s health, each of the providers require access to relevant information. This information is primarily stored on the practice management software . Access to this information is secure, encrypted, and password protected, and subject to Australian Privacy Principles (APP).
Health records are kept where constant staff supervision is easily provided. Personal health information is kept out of view so that it is not accessible by the public.
All patient health information is considered private and confidential, and is not disclosed to family, friends, staff or others without the patient’s consent. This information includes medical details, family information, address and other demographic and accounts data obtained via reception.
In our practice:
• Computer screens are positioned so that individuals cannot see information about other individuals
• Access to computerised patient information is strictly controlled with passwords and personal logins
• Automatic screen savers
• Computer terminals are logged off when the computer is left unattended for a significant period of time.
How can you make 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. Please contact our practice manager Caroline Driscoll at the practice.
You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (AOIC). Generally the OAIC will require you to give them time to respond, before they will investigate. For further information visit http://www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 336 002.
Call: 1300 363 992 Monday – Thursday 10.00am to 4.00pm
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au Address: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
Policy review statement
Clocktower Medical Centre’s privacy policy will be reviewed from time to time to ensure it is in accordance with privacy legislation and our practice policies. We will put the new privacy policy up on the patient noticeboard and website whenever there are any changes.