Privacy Policy

This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our practice, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties.

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our clinicians 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.

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 may also use it for activities related directly to our provision of business, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and business processes (e.g., staff training). 

The information we will collect about you includes your:

• name, date of birth, address and contact details

• medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, and risk factors

• Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes

• healthcare identifiers

• health fund details

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. 

Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.

1. When you make your first appointment, our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your enquiry and registration.

2. During provision of medical services, we may collect further personal information.

3. We may also collect your personal information when you send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social media.

4. 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, or Medicare

We sometimes share your personal information:

• with third parties who work with our practice for business purposes – these third parties are required to comply with APPs and this policy 

• with other healthcare providers

• when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. 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 

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 directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing. 

Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms, such as paper records, electronic records, and visual records. 

All personal information is stored securely. 

Our practice securely stores and protects your personal information in electronic format with access only available using passwords.

Confidentiality agreements are required to be signed by staff and contractors.

You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.

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 a reasonable time. Our practice aims to respond to written requests with 30 days. There may be an administration fee charged for collating the patients’ health record.

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 that your personal information held by our practice is correct and current. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing or via email.

In the event that your primary clinicians are unavailable or cannot be contacted, appropriate clinicians may access your child’s medical files as necessary to ensure continuity of care. This includes access to files by Registered Nurses (RNs). All access will be granted solely to healthcare professionals involved in your treatment and will be limited to the information necessary to provide ongoing medical services. All clinicians and RNs accessing your child’s file will adhere to strict confidentiality and data protection protocols to ensure your child’s privacy is maintained.

Some practitioners may choose to use an AI scribe tool to support taking notes during their consultations with you.

The AI scribe uses an audio recording of your consultation to generate a clinical note for your health record.

The practice AI scribe service is Lyrebird Health Pro. 

Lyrebird Health Pro:

• does not share information outside of Australia

• destroys the audio file once the transcription is complete.

• removes sensitive, personal identifying information as part of the transcription

The practice will only use data from our digital scribe service to provide healthcare to you.

Document automation is where systems use existing data to generate electronic documents relating to medical conditions and healthcare.

The practice uses document automation technologies to create documents such as referrals, which are sent to other healthcare providers. These documents contain only your relevant medical information.

These document automation technologies are used through Xestro, our practice management software.

All users of the medical software have their own unique user credentials and password, and can only access information that is relevant to their role in the practice team.

The practice complies with the Australian privacy legislation and APPs to protect your information.

All data, both electronic and paper are stored and managed in accordance with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Privacy and managing health information guidance.

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 in accordance with our resolution procedure. To make a complaint, please contact our practice via email. Please address complaints to the practice director, Dr Victoria McKay. If you require further information on the above, please contact the practice on (03) 9088 3011.

You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Generally, the OAIC will require you to give them time to respond before they will investigate. For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 363 992. Alternatively, you can contact the Victorian Ombudsman on 1800 806 314.

In the event of a formal complaint, your child’s file may be reviewed by a senior clinician at Paediatric People to ensure that the complaint is appropriately reviewed, investigated, and addressed in line with professional and regulatory standards. All clinicians accessing complaint files will be required to adhere to strict confidentiality and data protection protocols to safeguard your child’s privacy.

When patients provide us with information on our website, such as when filling out a form or contact request, your information is collected. 

General information about your visit to the practice website is also collated for statistical purposes, this information does not personally identify you. The practice website uses Google Analytics and cookies to gather information about the use of the website.

You can accept or decline cookies by using the settings on your web browser. Please note that declining cookies can impact your ability to access the full features of a website.

Your personal information may be disclosed to third parties if required to do so by law. Your personal information will not be sold or exchanged with a third party for marketing purposes.

The practice privacy policy will be reviewed at least annually to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. Any changes will be updated on the practice website.