The Skin Centre Privacy Policy.
The Skin Centre is located in Benowa Queensland and offers Patients a very extensive Privacy Policy.
The Skin Centre is committed to providing
quality health care for its patients. As a fundamental part of
this commitment, principals and staff of the practice recognise
the importance of ensuring that our patients are fully informed
and involved in their health care.
The Skin Centre is, as a health provider in
the private sector, bound by the National Privacy Principles.
These principles set the standards by which we handle personal
information collected from our patients. Further copies of these
Principles are available for inspection at the reception desk.
As a part of our commitment to providing
quality health care it is necessary for us to maintain files
pertaining to your health. We require your consent to collect
the following types of information:
- Personal details (your name, address, telephone number,
date of birth, Medicare number);
- Your medical history and examination;
- Notes, clinical photographs and images made during the
course of medical consultations.
- Results and reports received from other health service
providers.
The information held about you is provided by
you or arises as a consequence of information provided by you.
Our policy is to use this information:
- To provide referrals to other health providers;
- To send you surveys regarding your health for research
purposes;
- To send out information brochures on the Skin Centre’s
activities and services;
- To contact you with medical results or appointments.
However if there is any member of your household you do not
wish contacted, please advise our staff;
Our policy is to use your de-identified
clinical data, photographs and images for research and medical
journal publication and for purposes of a second opinion. Any
identified data used in this way will require your explicit
consent.
Your medical file is handled with the utmost
respect for your privacy. The file will be accessed by your
medical practitioner, and when necessary, for example in the
absence of your usual medical practitioner, by other medical
practitioners in the practice. It may also be necessary for our
staff to handle your file from time to time to address the
administrative requirements of running a medical practice.
Our staff are bound by strict confidentiality requirements as a
condition of employment regarding your medical records.
Ordinarily we will not release the contents
of your medical file without your consent. However, we advise
that there may be occasions where we will be required to release
the details of your file irrespective of whether your consent to
the disclosure of the information is given. This will occur
where the law requires disclosure, such as pursuant to a
subpoena.
Situations where information may be disclosed
in other directly and indirectly related secondary purposes are:
- Providing an individual with further information about
treatment options;
- Billing or debt recovery;
- The Skin Centre’s funding, service-monitoring,
complaint-handling, planning, evaluation and accreditation
activities – for example, activities to assess the cost
effectiveness of a particular treatment or service;
- Disclosure to a medical expert (only for medico-legal
opinion), insurer, medical defence organisation or lawyer,
solely for the purpose of addressing liability indemnity
arrangements, for example in reporting an adverse incident;
- Disclosure to a lawyer for the defence of anticipated or
existing legal proceedings;
- The Skin Centre’s quality assurance or clinical audit
activities, where we evaluate and seek to improve the delivery
of a particular treatment or service.
We advise that as a patient of this practice
you have rights of access to any information we hold concerning
you. Should you wish to access this information we refer you to
our handout entitled "ACCESSING YOUR MEDICAL RECORD".
As part of our commitment to preserving the
confidentiality of the information contained in your medical
record we advise that strict secure storage policies are
observed in this practice. Your electronic records are
accessible only by staff of this practice and are protected by a
security password. Your paper records are kept in secure filing
cabinets and accessible only by practice staff. Each member of
staff is well versed in the principles and importance of
doctor-patient confidentiality.
Should you, at any time, have a query or
complaint in relation to the privacy policies in place at this
practice please contact our privacy officer, Anne, who will be
happy to address any concerns you may have. We advise that it is
the practice’s policy that any complaint is required to be made
in writing and addressed to Dr Michael Freeman and marked
private and confidential. We advise that we will make our
best endeavour to address complaints within 60 days of receipt
of your complaint.
Contact Us at The Skin Centre.
By Telephone: +61 7 5597 7170
By Fax: +61 7 5597 7370
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