Privacy protection and confidentiality of health information is essential for quality health care and Fulham Consulting is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the information we hold about you.
In addition to our professional and ethical obligations, at a minimum, Fulham Consulting handles your personal information in accordance with federal and state privacy law. This includes complying with the federal Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) forming part of the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth). More information about the APPs can be found on the Australian Information Commissioner’s website www.oaic.gov.au.
This privacy policy is to provide information to you, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our practice and our website “www.fulhamconsulting.com.au”.
privacy and our practice
WHY AND WHEN YOUR CONSENT IS NECESSARY
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our Medical, Allied Health 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 main 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.
WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
The information we will collect about you includes:
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
health fund details.
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. You will not be able to receive Medicare rebates for services if you use a pseudonym.
HOW DO WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Our practice will collect your personal information:
When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
During the course of providing medical or allied health services, we may collect further personal information.
We may collect your personal information when you send us an email or SMS or telephone us.
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 Veteran’s Affairs (as necessary).
WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH?
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 (eg 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 (eg some diseases require mandatory notification)
Only people that 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.
HOW DO WE STORE AND PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms as electronic records. Paper records are held temporarily (generally only 1-2 days) and only until it has been scanned into your electronic record. No paper medical records are kept.
Our practice stores all personal information securely in electronic format that is security protected with passwords. All staff, contractors and associates of Fulham Consulting must sign confidentiality agreements that protect personal information.
PRIVACY AND INDEPENDENT SOLE PRACTITIONERS
This practice comprises a group of independent sole practitioners. That means, they are registered Medical or Allied Health practitioners that provide services from our rooms as independent private practitioners and are not employees of Fulham Consulting. The sole practitioners are responsible for maintaining your health records for services that they provide to you. In such circumstances, our administration staff will retain electronic records of your personal demographic and contact details, as well as information required for billing. Your clinical notes and records will be maintained by the sole practitioner.
HOW CAN YOU ACCESS AND CORRECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AT OUR PRACTICE?
Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing and our practice will respond within 30 days. Typically, this practice will provide a summary of records, depending upon the purpose of the request. There will be an administrative fee for any record summary or corrections made.
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 your personal information held by our practice is correct and up-to-date. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests verbally to our administration staff or in writing to Dr Riccardo Caniato, Director, PO Box 289 Hyde Park, Townsville Q 4814.
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. Our mailing address for complaints is PO Box 289, Hyde Park Q 4814. Please allow up to 30 days for a response.
If you are dissatisfied with the response, you can then lodge a letter of complaint with The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
PRIVACY AND OUR WEBSITE
This privacy policy sets out how our web site “www.fulhamconsulting.com.au” uses and protects any information that you give “www.fulhamconsulting.com.au” when you use this website.
“www.fulhamconsulting.com.au” is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.
“www.fulhamconsulting.com.au” may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.
SECURITY
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
Our website may contain links to enable you to visit other websites of interest easily. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
REVISIONS TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY WITHOUT NOTICE
This Privacy Policy is dynamic. It will continually change. You may not assume that it remains the same and you agree to check the policy each time you visit the site for changes. Unless, in the sole opinion of the website, this policy changes so drastically as to suggest a posted notification on the site or via email, you will receive no notification of changes to this Privacy Policy nor, under any circumstances, does this site promise notification. Your continued use of this site always evidences your acceptance of the terms this Privacy Policy or any modifications.
newsletter / BLOG disclaimer
This disclaimer relates to the use of the Fulham Consulting blog and newsletter. By subscribing to our blog and newsletter, you accept this disclaimer in full. All information in the blog and newsletter is published in good faith and contains general information about health and mental health matters. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. You must not rely on the information as an alternative to mental health / medical / psychological or counselling advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any health/ mental health/ medical matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional. If you think you may be suffering from any mental health or medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information in the newsletter. We do not make any guarantees about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information. From our Blog / Newsletter, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to these sites. While we strive to provide only links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites and the links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Please be also aware that when you leave our site, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. You may opt out from receiving information from us at any time and ask us to remove your contact information from our database.
LATEST UPDATE
This Privacy Policy and disclaimer information was last updated on 11 November 2018.