PRIVACY ACT 1988 - CONSENT AND DISCLOSURE:
The Privacy Act 1988 requires medical practitioners to obtain consent from their patients to collect, use and disclose the patient’s personal information.
COLLECTION:
This means we will collect information that is necessary to properly advise and treat you, such information may include:
Full medical history
Family medical history
Ethnicity
Contact details
Medicare/Private Health fund details
Genetic information
Bill/account details
The 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 a former GP or Specialist
Other health care providers, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, pharmacies, dentists, nurses and hospitals including day surgery units.
Both our practice staff and medical practitioners may participate in the collection of this information.
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.
USE & DISCLOSURE:
With your consent, the practice staff will use and disclose your information for purposes such as:
Account keeping and billing purposes
Referral to another medical practitioner or health care provider
Sending of specimens, such as blood samples or Pap smears for analysis
Referral to 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 organisations or insurers
To prevent or lessen a serious threat to an individual’s life, health or safety and
Where legally required to do so, such as producing records to court, mandatory reporting of child abuse or the notification of diagnosis of certain communicable diseases.
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
Your request is frivolous
The information relates to anticipated or actual legal proceedings and you would not be entitled to access the information in those proceedings and
In the interests of national security
We ask, where possible, your interests be in writing. We may impose a charge for photocopying or 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 policy that we take all steps to record all of your corrections and place them with your file but will not erase the original record.