Queensland Children’s Lung and Sleep Specialists Privacy Policy

Introduction

Our practice is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect. This practice has developed a policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Privacy Act’).  Our policy is to inform you of:

• 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;

Please note that any reference made to “we”, “our”, or “us” refers to Queensland Children’s Lung and Sleep Specialists and its staff. Reference to “you” may also include your child or a young person for whom you have guardianship.

What kind of personal information do we collect?

The type of information we may collect and hold includes:

• Your name, address, date of birth, email and contact details
• Medicare 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 / your child, including:
  • notes in relation to symptoms, diagnosis and treatments
  • reports and test results
  • appointment and billing details
  • prescriptions and other medicines / supplements
  • dental records
  • genetic information
  • healthcare identifier
  • any other information about race, sexuality or religion, when collected by a health provider.

How do we collect and hold information?

We will generally collect personal information:

• from you directly when you provide your / your child’s details to us. This might be via a face to face discussion, telephone conversation, registration form, online form, emails
• 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[1], electronic prescription services, Medicare, your health insurer, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

[1] See: https://myhealthrecord.gov.au/internet/mhr/publishing.nsf/content/home

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 / your child
• 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 professional involved in your healthcare;
• to obtain, analyse and discuss test results from diagnostic and pathology laboratories
•  for identification and insurance claiming
•  If you have a My Health Record, to upload your personal information to, and download your personal information from, the My Health Record system.
•  Information can also be disclosed through an electronic transfer of prescriptions service (Medical objects).
• 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.

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.

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

We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.

How do we hold your personal information?

We take appropriate security measures to keep your personal information protected, managed confidentially and securely, and destroyed appropriately when no longer required. We will monitor and implement appropriate technical advances or management processes to safeguard personal information.

A confidentiality agreement is entered into by all employees, contractors, and agents at the time of their employment or engagement with us protecting the privacy of individuals.  We view unauthorised disclosure as a serious breach of misconduct by our employees, contractors, and agents. If the disclosure of personal information is breached, disciplinary or legal action will be taken.

We endeavour to keep your information relevant, accurate, complete, and up to date. When you arrive for an appointment, the receptionist at your clinic may request confirmation that your details have not changed

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

Overseas disclosure

Personal information is not stored on severs based overseas and data is not managed by third parties based outside of Australia.

Updates to this Policy

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. Updates will be publicised on the practice’s website.

Contact details for privacy related issues

Dr Scott Burgess

Director

Queensland Children’s Lung and Sleep Specialists

639 Stanley Street, Woolloongabba QLD 4102

Phone: 07 3161 0377

Email: reception@qclass.com.au