1. Your Personal information is important to us
The Paediatric Specialists recognises your privacy is very important to you and that you have rights to control your personal information. Providing personal information is an act of trust and we take that seriously. We are committed to protecting your personal information.
2. Privacy statement
This Privacy statement sets out The Paediatric Specialists’ policy concerning the collection holding, use and disclosure of your personal information. It provides you with information and options on how to access and correct your personal information.
This Privacy statement sets out how we manage personal information to meet our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).
We believe our Privacy Statement not only complies with relevant laws but also represents best practice. In the unlikely instance this Statement conflicts with the Privacy Act, the Privacy Act prevails.
3. Definitions
Personal information means information or opinions about a person from which that person is reasonably identifiable. Personal information includes sensitive information.
Sensitive information includes information about a person’s beliefs, finances, associations or health.
Health information means information or opinions about a person’s health. It includes information collected in connection with the delivery of health services.
4. Collecting your personal information
The Paediatric Specialists may collect personal information as reasonably necessary for one or more of its functions. We will only collect personal information by lawful and fair means and primarily directly from you (for example, through our interaction with you or your use of our website).
However, wherever practicable we will de-identify personal information. In certain circumstances you may not need to identify yourself, or may use of a pseudonym instead. We will ordinarily alert you to these circumstances when available.
The type of personal information collected may depend on your interaction with us. For example, we may collect:
- your child/ren’s full name/s, their date of birth, their home address, their Medicare number; their gender;
- your full name;
- your contact information (postal address, email address, telephone number, mobile number etc), including your preferred manner of contact;
- medical information, such as but not limited to, pathology reports, scans, medical history, medication information etc; and
- name and contact details of your referring doctor and/or general practitioner.
If we receive unsolicited personal information, or information we would not ordinarily be permitted to collect, we will ordinarily destroy or de-identify that information.
We will take reasonable steps to notify you of our collection of your personal information. Any such notification will include all additional information required by the Privacy Act.
5. Use of your personal information
Personal information is kept until we are no longer legally obliged to keep, or when the need for the personal information has passed (at which point it will be destroyed, deleted or de-identified). Our purpose for collecting your personal information will to a degree depend on your interaction with us.
Personal Information shall be disclosed to the doctors and/or allied health staff who conduct their medical consultation at The Paediatric Specialists clinic, in order to enable them to provide their services to you. All doctors and allied health staff engaged in this fashion are required to comply with the privacy laws.
Personal information may be disclosed to your treating specialist doctor/s, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals, and other health care providers, but would only be released upon your written consent.
Personal information may be collected from treating specialist doctor/s, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals, the Myhealth record system, and other health care providers.
Personal information may be collected to respond to enquiries or comply with other legal obligations.
We will periodically disclose subsets of your information to Medicare for regulatory purposes.
We will not ordinarily disclose your personal information to anyone outside of Australia, unless we are required by Australian law to do so.
6. Storage and security of your personal information
We take all reasonable steps to keep your personal information secure, safe and protected from misuse, interference, loss or unauthorised access. Your information is either stored on secure servers (electronic records). Hard copies will be securely destroyed once the information has been updated on our medical software system. In addition, our employees, doctors, and allied health staff are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us.
We may use cloud computing services to store your personal information. Wherever practical we will ensure these servers are housed in Australia.
7. Accessing your personal information
You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you. If at any time you want to know what personal information we hold, please contact us using the contact details below.
We will provide you with your information within a reasonable time of your request, however where necessary we may require you to attend our office. We will not generally charge for your access to your personal information.
We reserve the right to refuse you access to your personal information as permitted under the Privacy Act. For example, we may refuse access if your request would pose a serious threat to another’s health, would unreasonably impact on another, or is frivolous or vexatious, or where your request relates to examination marking cards or reports.
8. Correction of your personal information
We will take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information held by us is accurate, up-to-date and complete.
If you wish to update or correct your personal information, please contact us using the contact details
below.
9. Problems or queries
If you have a problem, query or complaint about the way in which we collect, use or disclose individuals’ personal information, please contact us using the contact details below. We take all aspects of privacy seriously, and welcome your feedback on the relevant issues. Any concerns received will be internally reviewed and where appropriate an internal investigation will be conducted to ensure we continue to comply with the Privacy Act. If you are unsatisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.
10. Future changes
From time to time, our policies are reviewed and may be revised. We reserve the right to update or amend this statement at any time. We will notify you of any changes by posting an updated version of the statement on our website. The amended statement will be effective on and from its uploading.
11. Further information
For more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, visit the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.
Alternatively, you may contact The Practice Manager at The Paediatric Specialists via the following:
Clinic Address: Suite 2, Level 1, 22 George Street, North Strathfield, NSW 2137
Email: info@nullthepaediatricspecialists.com.au
Phone: (02) 8960 9455
Fax: (02) 8355 5952