POLICY

Restore medical and skin cancer centre has committed for protecting the privacy of our patients within our practice. Information collected is kept strictly confidential and used only for the medical and health care of patients.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to advise patients, their family members and carers on how we hold, manage and handle personal information.

SCOPE

This policy applies to all employees and patients of Restore Medical and Skin cancer centre.

PRACTICE PROCEDURE:

Patient Consent:

At their first visit, patients are asked to complete a “New Patient Privacy Document” which outlines some of our important principles about how we handle the information. Restore medical and skin cancer centre has committed to protecting personal information.  This information will not be used in any other way except as defined in this policy.

The Practice Staff will seek additional consent from a patient if the information collected by us is used for any other purpose. Any request for further use of information is made in writing to the patient explaining the request and obtaining the patients written consent prior to the use or release of the information.

Consent to collect personal and sensitive information may be obtained from a patients’ guardian or responsible person where practicable and necessary, for example when a patient is unable to provide the information or is unable to do so.

In the rare case of a medical emergency we may have to COLLECT and/or USE information without a patients consent in order to provide urgent medical treatment.

Staff Responsibility:

The practice staff will take reasonable steps to ensure patients understand

• What information has been and is being collected
• Why the information is being collected and whether this is due to a legal requirement
• How the information will be used or disclosed
• Why and when their consent is necessary
• The Practice’s procedures for access and correction of information, and responding to complaints of information breaches, including by providing this policy

USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

The primary purpose in collecting and holding personal information is to provide comprehensive, coordinated and continuing whole person health care for our patients.  This may include disclosing information to other health practitioners to whom we refer the patient to. Other purposes for which we may collect, use and disclose information to organise an appointment, billing purposes, Medicare entitlements and payments.

Collected personal information will include patients

• With Names, addresses, contact details and Medicare number for identification and claiming purposes.
• Medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors.

A patient’s personal information may be held at the practice in various forms:  In the form of paper records, electronic records, x-rays, CT scans, videos & photos.

The practice’s procedures for collecting personal information is set out below:

• Practice staff collect patient’s personal and demographic information via registration when patients present to the clinic for the first time.
• General Practitioners will consequently collect further personal information at the time treatment.
• Personal information may also be collected from the patient’s guardian or responsible person/Next of Kin (where practicable and necessary) or from other involved healthcare specialists.

The practice holds all personal information securely, whether in electronic format, in protected information systems or in hard copy in a secured environment.

Personal information collected by Restore Medical Centre and Skin cancer clinic may be used or disclosed in the following instances:

• If required by the law as part of the mandatory reporting.
• When referring to a medical specialist or other health service provider with patient’s consent.
• The practice will not disclose personal information to any third party other than the involved medical services and does so with full consent from the patient.
• The Practice will not disclose personal information to anyone outside Australia without the need and without the patient’s consent.

You can access and correct your personal information

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. If your information is being released to another practice, we will action incoming faxed requests with the Practice letterhead and your signature authorising us to release the information.

This request is then recorded to your health record once released and your file made inactive. Our practice will respond within a reasonable time. We provide a Health Summary of information for no charge, however if a complete record is required, we will release this on to a CD for $78.00 incl GST.

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.

COMPLAINTS

If you have any concerns on how we handle your personal information, we encourage you to discuss your concerns with your Doctor or the Practice Manager of this clinic.

POLICY REVIEW

This policy is reviewed on an annual basis, or more frequently in response to changes in legal or professional guidelines when applicable.

Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner

Deals with complaints about private health service providers or organisations holding health information.www.oaic.gov.au or 1300 363 992.

NSW Health Care Complaints Commission

Deals with complaints about confidentiality of medical records and conduct of health workers in NSW.www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/ or 1800 043 159.

NSW Privacy Commissioner

Deals with matters about health privacy, which include dealing with complaints concerning the private sector handling of health information in New South Wales.www.ipc.nsw.gov.au or 1800 472