Our Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Introduction

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.

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 primary 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 (e.g. staff training).

What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes your:

• names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
• medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
• Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
• healthcare identifiers

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.

1. When you make your first appointment, our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
2. During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.
3. 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.
4. 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:

• your guardian or responsible person
• other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services, and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
• 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:

• 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
• with other healthcare providers
• when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. court subpoenas)
• 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
• to assist in locating a missing person
• to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
• for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
• when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g. some diseases require mandatory notification)
• during the course of providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (e.g. via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).

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.

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 is stored in our practice by electronic records.

Our practice stores all personal information securely and we ensure your information is protected to the highest degree. We have a password/ username system for our medical software program as well as our IT has set up extensive security settings on our network. All staff has signed a confidentiality agreement before commencing work.

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 that patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing and signed our release of medical records form. Our practice will respond within a reasonable time; this could take up to 1 week depending on if your usual doctor is available to approve the release. There may be fees involved in the release of your medical records; please discuss this with reception.

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 us.

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. Contact details are below. We attempt to respond to complaints in a reasonable time frame but on occasions this may take up to 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

Collection of information

Two types of online data are collected:

• visitor logs and statistics
• information provided by users through online forms, registration, databases, and feedback (when personal information is collected online through databases and forms, for example, a privacy notice information will be collected, user and protected will be available.

Visitor logs and statistics

The main purpose for collecting this information is to provide statistical information used for website and system administration. The information does not identify individual users but does identify the computer that is used to access our sites.

Logged information is not disclosed outside of our organisation. We do not attempt to identify individuals from these records unless it is necessary to the investigation of a breach of law.

Our privacy policy is reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. Updates of any changes can be found on our website.

Last Reviewed June 2023

COMUNICATION POLICY

There are multiple ways in which the practice communicates with patients and third parties.

Communication can occur through the following channels:

Face to face

This can be via consultation with your doctor or nurse or interactions with other staff members. i.e.: Practice Manager or reception staff.

Telephone

Patients are able to contact the practice via telephone – Our practice operates from 7 AM to 11 PM on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and from 8 AM to 11 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.

As the first point of contact, receptionists must review the triage support guide to ensure they are correctly assessing patient’s needs and concerns. Receptionists will often need to ask questions to determine that the patient receives the most appropriate care, at the most appropriate time.

Phone calls from patients requesting to speak to the doctor will not generally be put through at the time of the call. This is to minimise disruption to the doctor as they are usually in consultation with another patient and respectfully not wanting to interrupt their consultation. Doctors may take phone calls if time permits.

Reception staff will ask the patient to briefly explain the reason for the call and will determine if the doctor should be interrupted or if a message can be given to the doctor to return the call at a later time. This may be throughout the day or after the doctor has finished consulting for the day. Where clinically significant information is discussed, a note will be made in the patient’s file.

Fax

Faxes received that are patient related are imported directly into the Doctor’s inbox which is then put into the patient’s file. These are then reviewed and actioned by the doctor. Any urgent patient related faxes are immediately handed to the doctor or if that doctor is not available another doctor in the practice will review the fax. All non-patient related faxes are given to the relevant staff member.

All outgoing faxes will be sent to the relevant place on request from the doctor and then saved into the patients file with a note detailing where it was sent and by whom.

Email

Email is not a secure form of communication and we do not use this to communicate personal information to patients without their consent. Whilst we make every effort to keep your information secure it is important for patients to be aware of the risks associated with electronic communication, in that the information could potentially be compromised and accessed by someone other than the intended recipient. Patients must be aware that any communication they direct to the surgery via email is also NOT secure and confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Patients communicating through email do so at their own risk.

If you do choose to contact the surgery via email this will be considered as patient consent to reply via email.

We endeavour to reply to all emails within 1 business day. Our emails are checked on a regular basis, however they are not constantly monitored. If you have an issue that requires urgent attention, we request that you contact the practice via telephone.

SMS

SMS messages are sent for a variety of health management purposes.

These may include:

– Appointment reminders – a reminder message will be sent the day prior to your appointment.

– Health reminders (e.g., cervical screening/care plans/Immunisations etc).

We need to ensure that your mobile number is up to date at each visit to ensure that this information is sent to the correct number. Patients must be aware that if another person can access their mobile phone, then the confidentiality of these communications cannot be protected by the practice.

Post

Letters are often sent offering services available to eligible patients and for health reminders and recalls for patients who do not have a mobile number or who have opted out of our electronic messaging system.

Incoming mail is collected and opened each day. Letters received that are patient related are directly imported to the doctor’s inbox which is then saved to the patient’s file. These are then reviewed and actioned by the doctor. All remaining letters are provided to the addressee.

Facebook

Our Facebook page updates practice information and health promotions.

This page however, is intended for announcements only by Harvest Lakes Medical Centre and not for the provision of individual medical advice. This page is not regularly monitored for comments. If you have any queries or questions, we ask that you please contact the practice via telephone.

Urgent Results

Your doctor or the Practice Nurse will attempt to contact you immediately via contact details supplied. If our attempts at contact are unsuccessful, a letter will be forwarded to your address to contact us urgently for an appointment.

Non-Urgent Results

Your doctor or the Practice Nurse will attempt to contact you via phone to advise that you need to make an appointment to see your doctor. If our attempts to contact you are unsuccessful, a letter will be forwarded to your address to contact us for an appointment.

If your results are NORMAL we will NOT contact you. You are welcome to phone us to check if your results have been returned to us, but you will have to make an appointment to discuss these results.

Patients are contacted for recalls and reminders. If our attempts are unsuccessful a letter will be forwarded to your address to contact us for an appt.

Confidential information is not included in these letters. All personal information is stored on a program specific, encrypted computer database.

Continuous Education

The practice is committed to supporting the doctors, nurses and administration staff to participate in ongoing education.

Did Not Attend (DNA) & Cancellation Policy

Due to high demand for appointments and the high number of non-attendance and cancellations for GP appointments, we will charge a fee of $40 per consultation or if a double consult, a fee of $80, that is not attended or not cancelled within 4 hours of the appointment time.

If this account is not paid, a letter of suspension of services and the outstanding account will be issued. This letter will see access to all services suspended until accounts are paid.

We have many requests for appointments everyday and hope by introducing this policy, patients will consider cancelling their appointments so that others may access them if required.

If you have any concerns, please ask the reception staff.

Home Visits and Out of Hours Services

Harvest Lakes Medical Centre provides locum services for those patients who require a home visit, During the clinic opening hours, The Practice GPs will offer home visits at their discretion. GPs offer home visits when it is appropriate, depending on circumstances and considering safety of all staff. To Obtain a home visit during clinic hours it needs to be safe and reasonable for the GP,and within a 5 Km radius of the clinic.

If for any reason our doctor is unable to come and see you and you can’t come in to the practice, please contact Night Dr (Fees May Apply) on PH: 1300 644 483

Walk-In Services

Harvest Lakes Medical Centre does offer a walk-in service with some exceptions. The wait time for walk-ins varies and depends on how on time the Doctors are running. Please note we will refuse walk-ins if the Doctors are running late and do not have the capacity to fit in walk-In patients. Same day appointments are available within our opening hours. To book an appointment you can call the surgery, or you can come in and enquire when the next appointment is available. You can book appointments online via our websites or via Hotdoc.

Patient Feedback

Your feedback is important to us and Patient Feedback forms are available at reception. Alternatively, forward your comments to p.manager@harvestlakesmedicalcentre.com.au

If for any reason you are not satisfied with the service you have received and do not wish to discuss this with us, the following information is for the state health complaint agency:

• The Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO)
• GPO Box B61, Perth WA 6838
• Phone: (08) 9323 0600
• Fax: (08) 9221 3675
• Country Free Call: 1800 813 583