Privacy Policy

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Effective Date: 11 April 2023

Bowen Hills Medical Operations Pty Ltd, ABN 23 955 861 651 trading as The Banyans Medical Centre and Specialist Clinics (“we” or “The Banyans”) recognises and values the protection of your personal information. We are aware of our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and we will ensure our full compliance with that Act.

Introduction

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.

Why and when your consent is necessary

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our GPs 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, practice audits and accreditation, and business processes (e.g., staff training).

What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes your:

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.

How do we collect your personal information?

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

When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
While providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.
We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social media.
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 Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).

When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?

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 (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
when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g., some diseases require mandatory notification)
while providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (e.g., via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).
The Banyans Health and Wellness Group (only if you are using other health services within the group).
Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than while 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 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.

How do we store and protect your personal information?

Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms as electronic records.

Our practice stores all personal information securely.

We securely store and protect personal information in an electronic format, in protected information system. The information system is password protected and stored in a secure cabinet and all staff and contractors sign confidentiality agreements.

How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?

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 via letter or email. Our practice will respond within 7 working days

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 to the Practice Manager.

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 in accordance with our resolution procedure.

Please see practice details below:

For post – The Banyans Medical Centre and Specialist Clinics, Suite 5, 16 Thompson St, Bowen Hills QLD 4006
Email – reception.bowenhills@thebanyans.com.au
Phone – 07 3155 3848

If you feel your complaint has not been resolved, please contact the external health complaints agency for our state:

Queensland

Office of the Health Ombudsman
Telephone: 133 646
Web: www.oho.qld.gov.au

Complaints that relate to privacy issues or concerns that cannot be resolved internally are to be directed to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

Telephone: 1300 363 992
Postal Address: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Web: www.oaic.gov.au

Members of the public may make a notification to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) – www.ahpra.gov.au – about the conduct, health or performance of a practitioner or the health of a student. Practitioners, employers, and education providers are all mandated by law to report notifiable conduct relating to a registered practitioner or student to AHPRA.

Policy review statement

This privacy policy will be reviewed annually or as required to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. Patients will be notified of changed by a sign at reception.

Website Privacy

Security

We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.

Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a closed lock icon at the bottom of your web browser or looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the web page.

While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (e.g., billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information.

Notification of Changes

We reserve the right to amend changes to our privacy policy without direct notice to you. Changes will be reflected on this webpage.