Patient Privacy

As a part of this commitment principals and staff of the practice recognise the importance of ensuring our patients are fully informed and involved in their health care.

CompleteHealth Australia is as a health provider, bound by the National Privacy Principles and Health Privacy Principles, the standards by which we handle personal information collected from our patients. A copy of these Principles is available for inspection at the reception desk.

As a part of our commitment to providing quality health care, it is necessary that we maintain files pertaining to your health. The files contain the following types of information:

  • Your medical history;
  • Personal details (your name, address, date of birth, Medicare number);
  • Notes made during the course of medical consultations;
  • Results and reports received from other health service providers;
  • Referrals to other health service providers.

The information held about you is provided by you or arises as a consequence of the information provided by you.

Your medical file is handled with the utmost respect for your privacy. The file will be accessed by your medical practitioner, and when necessary, for example in the absence of your usual medical practitioner, by other medical practitioners in the practice. Our staff may also have to handle your file from time to time to address the administrative requirements of running a medical practice. Our staff are bound by strict confidentiality requirements as a condition of employment and these requirements will be observed if it is necessary for them to view your records.

At times, it may also be necessary to liaise with and/or allow external organizations to access our practice and possibly, to view the medical records, for example, our IT provider, hospitals (if you have consented to undergo a procedure) etc. Any external organization that provides service or advice to this practice will be aware of the need to preserve the requirement of the Privacy Act and will be bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Ordinarily, we will not release the contents of your medical file without your consent. However, we advise that there may be occasions where we will be required to release the details of your file irrespective of whether your consent to the disclosure of the information is given e.g. exposure required by law pursuant to a subpoena.

We advise that as a patient of this practice you have rights of access to any information we hold concerning you. Should you wish to access this information we refer you to our handout entitled
“ACCESSING YOUR MEDICAL RECORD”.

As part of our commitment to preserving the confidentiality of the information contained in your medical record, we advise that strict, secure, record storage policies are observed in this practice. Your electronic records are accessible only by staff of this practice and are protected by a security password. Your paper records are kept in secure filing cabinets and accessible only by practice staff. Each member of staff is well versed in the principles and importance of doctor-patient confidentiality.

Should you, at any time, have a query or complaint in relation to the privacy policies in place at this practice please contact a doctor, Practice Manager or receptionist on duty who will be happy to address any concerns you may have. We advise that it is the practice’s policy that any complaint is required to be made in writing and addressed to Practice Manager and marked private and confidential. We advise that we will make our best endeavour to address complaints within 60 days of receipt of your complaint.

PRIVACY AND OUR WEBSITE

At CompleteHealth Australia we strive to educate and keep our patients up to date on the latest health news and changes. We make this process easier for you by making information readily available on our website. In order to achieve this, we may collect and use your personal information as follows.

Collection of personal information

Through our booking system, we collect personal information such as:

  • Your name
  • Your date of birth
  • Your contact details which may include address, email address and phone number.
  • Your Medicare number, Veteran’s Affairs Number, Health Care Card Number, Health Fund details or pension number

We collect health information such as:

  • Current drugs or treatments used by you
  • Information, relevant to your medical care which may include a previous and current medical condition or/and your family medical history.
  • Any other information that may be relevant to your medical care.

Use of personal information

  • We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:
  • To provide medical services and treatment to you, and to enable you to be attended by medical practitioners or other allied health professionals at our Practices
  • For administrative and billing purposes;
  • To update our records and keep your contact details up to date;
  • To process and respond to any complaint made by you;
  • To comply with any law, rule, regulation, lawful and binding determination, decision or direction of a regulator, or in co-operation with any governmental authority of any country;
  • For the purposes of data research and analysis including conducting clinical trials and proactive screenings and for the purpose of sending you direct marketing communications in relation to these;
  • For inclusion in a recall register to be advised of follow up visits and medical updates;
  • To answer enquiries and provide information or advice about existing and new products or services and all matters relevant to the services we provide to you;
  • to meet obligations of notification to our medical defence organizations or insurers.

Security

How is your personal information protected?

In addition to the security measures set out above

Cross-border Data Transfers

Information that COMPLETEHEALTH AUSTRALIA collects may be stored and processed in and transferred between any of the countries in which COMPLETEHEALTH AUSTRALIA operates to enable the use of the information in accordance with this privacy policy.

[In addition, personal information that you submit for publication on the website will be published on the internet and may be available around the world.]

Other websites

This website contains links to other websites.

COMPLETEHEALTH AUSTRALIA is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any third party.

PRIVACY AND YOUR CONSENT

By proceeding to make a booking with our practice, you agree to the following:

  • That you have read the information above and understand how your information will be collected and how it may be used;
  • That you are not obliged to provide any information requested but failure to do so might compromise the quality of healthcare and treatment provided to you and we reserve the right to deny treatment where we feel we are unable to do so due to lack of information provided;
  • That if your information is to be used for any other purpose other than that set out above, your further consent will be obtained;
  • You consent to the handling of your information by this practice for the purposes set out above, subject to any limitations on access or disclosure that you may notify us of;
  • You consent to cross-border transfers of personal information where required as set out above;
  • You understand that your personal information may go offshore if you select email as a preferred mode of contact;
  • You understand this privacy statement may be updated on this website from time to time and that you should check this page occasionally to ensure you are familiar with any such changes.