Information Quality and Security
Our goal is to ensure that your information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information therefore from time-to-time, we will ask you to verify your personal information held by our practice is correct and up-to-date. To assist us with this, please let us know if any of the details you have provided have changed especially your contact telephone numbers, address, and your emergency contact information.
The storage, use and, where necessary, the transfer of personal health information will be undertaken in a secure manner that protects patient privacy. We will take appropriate measures to protect electronic materials stored and generated in hard copy. It is necessary for medical practices to keep patient information after a patient’s last attendance for as long as required by law or is prudent having regard to administrative requirements.
The doctors in this practice respect your right to decide how your personal health information is used or disclosed. In all but exceptional circumstances, personal information that identifies you will be sent to other people only with your consent. Gaining your consent is the guiding principle that we adhere to.
Consultations are confidential
All consultations are confidential. Not only is this true for adults but also for young people who attend. We protect your privacy and treat all patient information including health and financial details as private and confidential and ensure that this information is only available to authorised personnel.
CGMC takes its obligations under the Victorian Health Records Act 2002 and the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 seriously and takes all reasonable steps in order to comply and protect the privacy of all concerned.
Collection of Information
The information we collects from you is purely for the purpose of providing optimal care, so that we may properly assess, diagnose, treat your illnesses properly and be proactive in your health care needs. Information we collect may include your contact details and personal medical history. Some information we collect is in order to comply with our legal obligations.
This means we may use and disclose the information you provide in the following ways:
- Administrative purposes, plus disclosure to others involved in your healthcare, as well as for scripts, referrals, reports, and tests by nurses, doctors and specialists within and outside this Medical Practice.
- By law, doctors are sometimes required to disclose information for public interest reasons e.g. mandatory reporting of communicable diseases.
- As part of the practice’s national state and territory recall and reminder systems relevant to your healthcare e.g. Pap Smear Registry, Bowel Cancer Registry, Australian Immunisation Registry (AIR)
- Assisting with training and education of other health professionals. You will be informed when such activities are being conducted and your involvement will only take place if you provide express consent to your medical practitioner for each program.
- Data may be used in research and quality assurance activities to improve individual and Community Health Care and Practice Management. This may occur when our practice incorporates patient health records into de-identifiable patient information to transfer to a third party. De-identifiable patient information cannot be traced back to the individual.
- IF your information is to be used for any other purpose other than set out above, your further consent will be obtained.
You can decline to have your health information used as outlined above, but it may influence our ability to manage your health care to provide the best outcome for you.
3-Point ID Check at each interaction:
We are obligated by law to ensure that we have the correct patient in front of us. We will ask you to verify 3-points of ID when you are booking your appointment over the phone and when you arrive at the clinic. We may ask you to verify your name, date of birth, mobile number, or address at each interaction.
Access to Health Records Policy
Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of your personal health information at all times and ensure this information is only available to authorised personnel. We are legally required to preserve your privacy and can only disclose information about you to a third part with your written permission or request, unless required by law.
Patients of our practice have a right to access their personal health information under the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000. A fee will be charged for the doctor’s time spent perusing the notes or explaining them directly to the patient, or rewriting incomprehensible records, in accordance with fees suggested within the Victorian Health Records Act and the Health Records Regulations or Freedom of Information legislation. These charges, cannot be claimed on Medicare or Health Funds.
Patients may request in writing for their health records to be transferred to a GP at another practice. Health Summary will be forwarded free of charge upon receiving a valid signed authority. A fee of up to $33 per patient file may be charged depending on the amount of work involved if complete files are requested. Patients will be informed of any charges prior.
Access to medical records may be denied if:
- The request does not relate to the personal information of the person making the request
- Providing access would pose a serious and imminent threat to life or health of a person
- Providing access would create an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
- The request relates to legal proceedings between Casey Gate Medical Centre and you;
- Providing access would prejudice negotiations with the individual making the request; Access would be unlawful; Denial of access is authorised or required by law; Access would prejudice law enforcement activities;
- Access discloses a ‘commercially sensitive’ decision making process or information; or
- Any other reason that is provided for in the Health Privacy Principles (HPPs) set out in the Victorian Health Records Act and the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) set out under the Commonwealth Privacy Act.
- The rights of children to the privacy of their health information, based on the professional judgement of the doctor and consistent with law, might restrict access to the child’s information by parents or guardians.