PRIVACY POLICY
Medoc Pty. Ltd. T/A Wynnum Medical & Melanoma Centre
Current as of: 01/09/2019
Introduction
Medoc Pty. Ltd. T/A Wynnum Medical & Melanoma Centre respects your right to privacy and is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our clients and website visitors. We adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This policy sets out how we collect and treat your personal information.
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. In this document practice or we/our refer to “Medoc Pty. Ltd. T/A Wynnum Medical & Melanoma Centre” and "Personal information" is information we hold which is identifiable as being about you.
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).
What personal information do we collect?
The information we will collect about you includes your:
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names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
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medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
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Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
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healthcare identifiers
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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.
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When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
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During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.
Information can also be collected from 3rd parties, which practice participates in, through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP), My Health Record, eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary.
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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.
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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:
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your guardian or responsible person
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other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
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your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).
When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?
We sometimes share your personal information:
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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
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with other healthcare providers
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when it is required or authorised by law (eg court subpoenas)
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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
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to assist in locating a missing person
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to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
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for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
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when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (eg some diseases require mandatory notification)
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during the course of providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary) which our practice participates in.
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. The information entered to our website, sent to us by email or entered in Dermengine.com.au from time to time may be stored, processed or transferred between parties located in countries outside of Australia. These may include, but are not limited to United States of America, Europe (including in Lithuania, Germany and Ukraine), Israel, and in other jurisdictions as necessary for the proper delivery of our Services.
Our practice will not use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms.
Our practice stores information as paper records, electronic records, visual records (X-rays, CT scans, videos and photos) or audio recordings.
Our practice stores all personal information securely.
We securely store and protect personal information in protected information systems e.g. all our computers are password protected, most patients’ data are stored in our practice management software for which staff members have their own individual credentials.
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 fax to us: (07) 3053 8907 and our practice will respond within a reasonable time: 30 days. Our fees that may be associated with providing this information may vary between $40 to $120 +gst depending on the complexity of the request and amount of time required to prepare the document.
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 Wynnum Medical Centre info@wynnum-medical-centre.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. You can contact us via email: info@wynnum-medical-centre.com.au, phone: 07 3348 9000, or send us a mail to: 7/1795 Wynnum Rd, Tingalpa QLD 4173. an email address. Our turnaround timeframe is 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
When you visit our website
When you come to our website (https://www.wynnum-medical-centre.com.au) we may collect certain information such as browser type, operating system, website visited immediately before coming to our site, etc. This information is used in an aggregated manner to analyse how people use our site, such that we can improve our service.
Cookies
We may from time to time use cookies on our website. Cookies are very small files which a website uses to identify you when you come back to the site and to store details about your use of the site. Cookies are not malicious programs that access or damage your computer. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can choose to reject cookies by changing your browser settings. However, this may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website. Our website may from time to time use cookies to analyses website traffic and help us provide a better website visitor experience. In addition, cookies may be used to serve relevant ads to website visitors through third party services such as Google Adwords. These ads may appear on this website or other websites you visit.
Third party sites
Our site may from time to time have links to other websites not owned or controlled by us. These links are meant for your convenience only. Links to third party websites do not constitute sponsorship or endorsement or approval of these websites. Please be aware that Medoc Pty. Ltd. T/A Wynnum Medical & Melanoma Centre is not responsible for the privacy practises of other such websites. We encourage our users to be aware, when they leave our website, to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personal identifiable information.
Policy review statement
This privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. We will notify our patients when we amend this policy though our website.
Approved by
Dr Davood Karimian
Date: 1st September 2019