Privacy Policy

1. Scope

This policy applies to all personal and health information we collect from future, current and past patients of the Practice.

All references to ‘you’ are references to a patient or patients of the Practice.

2. Introduction

The practice of Dr Becky Taylor is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect.

We handle your personal and health information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) (referred to as the “Privacy Laws”).

This privacy policy is to inform you of the following:

• the kinds of information that we collect and hold, which, as a medical practice, is likely to be ‘health
  information’ for the purposes of the Privacy Act;
• how we collect and hold personal information;
• the purposes for which we collect, hold, use, and disclose personal information;
• how you may access your personal information and seek the correction of that information;
• how you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with such a complaint;
• whether we are likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients

This Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and other necessary developments. We will update this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes.

A copy of the Privacy Policy is accessible in hard copy from reception staff and online at drbeckytaylor.com.au

3. What kinds of personal information do we collect?

We collect personal and health information that is necessary and relevant to provide you with medical care and treatment and to manage our medical practice.

The type of information we may collect, and hold includes:

• Your name, address, date of birth, email and contact details, occupation, emergency contact details
• Medicare number , DVA number and other government identifiers, although we will not use these for the purposes of identifying you in our practice
• Other health information about you, including:
  
  1. notes of your symptoms or diagnosis and the treatment given to you
  2. your specialist reports and test results
  3. your appointment and billing details
  4. your prescriptions and other pharmaceutical purchases
  5. family history
  6. your genetic information
  7. your healthcare identifier
  8. any other information about your race, sexuality, or religion, when collected by a health service provider.

4. How do we collect and hold personal information

We will generally collect personal information:

• from you directly when you provide your details to us. This might be via a face to face discussion, telephone conversation, online consultation, registration form or online form
• from third parties where the Privacy Act or other law allows it – this may include, but is not limited to: other members of your treating team, diagnostic centres, specialists, hospitals, the My Health Record system, electronic prescription services, Medicare, your health insurer, the Pharmaceutical
  Benefits Scheme
• from a person responsible for you
• In emergency situations we may need to collect information from your relatives or friends.

Information may be collected by medical and non-medical staff.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete, up to date and relevant. For this purpose, our staff may ask you to confirm that your contact details are correct when you attend a consultation.

Personal and health information may be stored in our electronic medical records system and /or in handwritten hard copy medical records.

5. Why do we collect, hold, use, and disclose personal information?

In general, we collect, hold, use, and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

• to provide health services to you
• to communicate with you in relation to the health service being provided to you
• to comply with our legal obligations, including, but not limited to, mandatory notification of communicable diseases or mandatory reporting under applicable child protection legislation.
• to help us manage our accounts and administrative services, including billing, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts, management of our ITC systems
• for consultations with other doctors and allied health professionals involved in your healthcare
• to obtain, analyse and discuss test results from diagnostic and pathology laboratories
• for identification and insurance claims
• If you have a My Health Record, to upload your personal information to, and download your personal information from, the My Health Record system1
• Information can also be disclosed through an electronic transfer of prescriptions service
• To liaise with your health fund, government, and regulatory bodies such as Medicare, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
  (if you make a privacy complaint to the OAIC), as necessary

We will only use or disclose your information for purposes directly related to your care and treatment, or in a way that you would reasonably expect that we may use it for your ongoing care.

Information may be shared with our service providers including IT, finance/accounting, and dictation services. Such disclosures are limited to the information strictly necessary for them to discharge their
responsibilities.

All our service providers are required to comply with the Privacy Laws.

If third parties such as insurers request your information, we will never provide your information without a current signed release from you permitting us to do so unless we are permitted or required to do so by law, for example: in answer to a notice from Medicare, a summons from the Police, subpoenas and notices to produce from courts and tribunals.

6. How can you access and correct your personal information?

You have a right to seek access to, and correction of the personal information which we hold about you.

We require that you put your request in writing, and we will endeavour to respond within 30 days. There may be a reasonable fee for the administrative costs of retrieving and providing you with access to your medical records.

For details on how to access and correct your health record, please contact our practice as noted below under ‘Contact Details’:

We may decline access to your medical records in certain circumstances. Should we do so, we will always tell you why access has been declined and the other options available to you

7. How do we hold your personal information?

Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse, loss and from unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. This includes:

• Securing our premises
• Holding your information in secure cloud storage on our practice software (GENTUÒ)
• Holding your information on an encrypted database (Baby Sentry Ô -for ART patients only)
• Minimal paper records are kept, but any information held on paper prior to being uploaded to the secure practice software will be kept in a locked cabinet
• Our staff sign confidentiality agreements
• The provision of regular training for all staff regarding the Privacy Laws and our systems and processes

We are required by law to retain medical records for at least seven years, and in some cases for a longer period.

8. Privacy related questions and complaints

If you have any questions about privacy-related issues or wish to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles or the handling of your personal information by us, you may lodge your complaint in writing to (see below for details). We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the OAIC: 

Phone: 1300 363 992 

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au 

Fax: +61 2 9284 9666 

Post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 

Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/how-do-i-make-a-privacy-complaint

9. Anonymity and pseudonyms

The Privacy Act provides that individuals must have the option of not identifying themselves, or of using a pseudonym, when dealing with our practice, except in certain circumstances, such as where it is impracticable for us to deal with you if you have not identified yourself. However, it is the view of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and this practice that it is largely impracticable to care for patients anonymously or via a pseudonym. The provision of medical services is likely to be impacted, and billing via Medicare or a health insurer where applicable is likely to be impracticable. Of course, in some instances a patient seeking certain treatments may be prepared to forego notifying their insurer or seeking a Medicare benefit and pay the practice direct.

10. Overseas disclosure

We may disclose your personal information to the following overseas recipients:

• any practice or individual who assists us in providing services (such as where you have come from overseas and had your health record transferred from overseas or have treatment continuing from an overseas provider).
• anyone else to whom you authorise us to disclose it

11. Website Privacy Policy

Personal Information Collected via Website Through our website enquiry submission, we typically collect:

• Name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Information provided by you through the enquiry form

Data collected via cookies and third-party tools (such as Google Analytics and Google Ads) is used for website traffic analysis and general advertising purposes. Website Tracking and Analytics Our website uses cookies and third-party analytics tools like Google Analytics to monitor website usage and improve user experience. Information collected includes anonymised IP addresses and device identifiers, used only to analyse general website usage trends.

We may also use Google Ads for general advertising based on anonymised and aggregated website visitor
information. Importantly, personal or health-related information collected in the course of medical treatment is never used for personalised advertising. Managing Cookies and Advertising Preferences You can manage cookie preferences via your browser settings or opt out of personalised advertising through Google’s Ads Settings or other available online tools. Online Forms and Security Website forms use CAPTCHA or similar verification tools to enhance security and reduce spam submissions.

12. Contact Details

Dr Rebecca Taylor
137 St Johns Rd
Glebe
NSW
2037