Privacy Policy

It is the policy of this Practice to ensure the confidentiality and security of the personal and health information of all patients. It is also the policy of the Practice to abide by the requirements of the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth).

Prior to your initial attendance with Mr Daniel Fick you will be asked to read and sign our Patient Privacy Consent Form. The Practice will collect your personal information, including information about your health, from you or your guardian, for the purposes of investigating, diagnosing and treating any health condition you may have as well as providing you with further information and advice about your health.

The Practice has a Privacy Policy which explains

• How we manage your personal and health information. This includes the collection, use,
  disclosure, quality and security of this information.
• The type of information we collect and how we store that information.
• The purpose for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information.
• How you can access your personal information and how you may correct such information.
• Steps you may take to complain about a breach of privacy and how we will address a complaint.

If you have any questions, concerns or feedback with regard to the Privacy Policy you may contact the Practice Manager by email [email protected] or (08) 6465 4455.

The following terms are used in this Privacy Policy:

Personal information as defined in the Privacy Act. This means “information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable; whether the information or opinion is true or not; and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not”.

Personal information also includes “sensitive information” which is information such as your race, religion, political opinion, and sexual preferences and/or “health information”. Information which is “sensitive information” attracts a higher privacy standard under the Privacy Act and is subject to additional mechanisms for your protection.

Health information as defined in the Privacy Act. This means “personal information” and means information or an opinion about the health of an individual (including an illness, disability or injury of an individual at any time), an individual’s expressed wishes about the future provision of health services, or a health service provided, or to be provided to an individual.

We, Us, Our shall mean: Daniel Fick Pty Ltd

Collection of personal information
This practice will collect information which is necessary to provide you with a healthcare service and to appropriately manage and conduct business. This includes collecting personal information such as your name, contact details, Medicare and health fund membership, past and current treatments, your medical and family history, lifestyle factors and any other information which will assist us in providing you with the appropriate care and advice.

We do not engage with overseas entities or persons for the purpose of transferring, storing or disclosing your personal information. Your specific consent would be obtained should this be required.

Data storage, quality and security
It is the aim of this practice to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of the personal information we hold and to protect its privacy and security. We ensure that all personal information regardless as to whether it is stored as a hard copy or in electronic form is protected from unauthorised access, modification, misuse, loss, interference or disclosure. The Practice has policies in place to ensure the staff are trained on privacy, that IT security including virus controls, encryption, firewalls, user identification and secure passwords are active and control access to the network where your information is stored. Access to the physical premises is secured.

Data transferred over the internet is not guaranteed to be 100% secure therefore any information you transmit to us either via the website or via email is transmitted at your own risk.

Destroying your personal information
It is likely that your medical records held by us contain sensitive information and we are required by law to abide by the relevant legislation in the retention and disposal of these. This Practice may destroy records when they are no longer required.

Accessing and amending your personal information
You are encouraged to contact the Practice should you have any concerns or queries regarding your personal information held on record with us. You may request an amendment if you consider this information to be inaccurate, incorrect or incomplete.

You have a right to request access to any information that we hold about you. On receipt of a request for access, we will provide you with a suitable means for accessing entitled information. There is no charge for submitting the request however we may raise a charge to cover our reasonable costs for providing a copy of your information to you.

However, there may be instances where we cannot grant you access to some of the information we hold such as if the requested information would interfere with the privacy of others. In this case, we would provide to you in writing an explanation of the reasons.

Complaints
If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information or believe there has been a breach in your privacy, you may contact the Practice Manager on [email protected] or telephone (08) 6465 4455 so it may be investigated. Your complaint will be dealt with confidentially and with fairness. On receipt of the complaint, you will be contacted within 10 business days to confirm the course of the investigation, the outcome of which will be communicated to you in writing. You will be invited to respond to our conclusion on the complaint. Should you issue a response, we will assess and advise you, again in writing if we have changed our view.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you may refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (http://www.oalc.gov.au).

Review and changes to Privacy Policy
This privacy policy may be updated following legislative change or upon review of our information handling processes.

Collection of unidentifiable information
We may collect information that is not personal therefore not disclosing your identity. For example, we may collect aggregated information about how our website is used or collect anonymous responses to surveys.

Disclaimer
It is important to note that information sent through email should not be relied upon as a medical consultation. We will endeavour to provide information that will assist in making your own health care decisions.