Clinic Privacy Policy
At Foot Centre Group we are committed to protecting the privacy of patient information and the handling of your personal information in a highly secure and responsible manner.
Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, how you may access that information and how you may seek the correction of any information.
This Privacy Policy is current from March 2017. From time to time we may make changes to our policy, processes and systems in relation to how we handle your personal information. We will update this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes. Those changes will be available on our website and in the practice
Patient information is shared between medical practitioners and allied health providers at Foot Centre Group.
Collection
We collect information that is necessary and relevant to provide you with medical care and treatment, and manage our medical practice. This information will include the following:
- Name, address, date of birth, gender, contact details (telephone/mobile number, fax number, email address),
- Medicare care card number (for identification and claiming purposes,
- DVA and/or Centrelink concession numbers
- Healthcare identifiers, and
- Medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors.
This information will be stored on our protected computer medical records system as electronic records and as visual – x-rays, CT Scans, Video’s and photos.
Wherever practicable we will only collect information from you personally. However, we may also need to collect information from other sources such as treating specialists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals and other health care providers.
We collect information in various ways, such as over the phone or in writing, in person whilst you are at Foot Centre Group or over the internet if you make your appointments with us online. This information may be collected by medical and non-medical staff.
In emergency situations we may also need to collect information from your relatives or friends.
We may be required by law to retain medical records for certain periods of time depending on your age at the time we provide services.
Use and Disclosure
Personal information held by Foot Centre Group will only be used for the purpose of providing medical services and for claims and payments, unless otherwise consented to. Some disclosure may occur to third parties engaged by or for the Practice for business purposes such as accreditation or for the provision of information technology. These third parties are required to comply with this policy.
Foot Centre group will inform the patient where there is a statutory requirement to disclose personal information (for example: some diseases require mandatory notification by Government Health Departments).
Foot Centre Group will not disclose personal information to any third party other than in the course of providing medical services, without full disclosure to the patient or the recipient, the reason for the information transfer and consent from the patient.
Exceptions to disclose without patient consent are where the information is:
- Required by Law
- 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 a confidential dispute resolution process
Foot Centre group will not use any personal information in relation to direct marketing to a patient without that patient’s express consent. Patients may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying the practice.