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 Albany Skin Clinic (which incorporates Aesthetic Services at Pioneer Health Albany), 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 doctors, nurses and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare and aesthetic services. 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 and aesthetic services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health and provide appropriate treatment and care. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, and business processes (eg staff training).

What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes your:

• names, date of birth, addresses and contact details
• medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
• treatment information, including clinical photography where consent has been provided
• 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.

Please be aware that should you choose to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym, you may be required to pay for consults in full and no Medicare rebate will be payable if you do not use the name on your Medicare card.

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.
• During the course of providing medical and aesthetic services, we may collect further personal information.
• We may also collect your personal information when you contact us via 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 where 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, pathology and diagnostic imaging services
  • your health fund, Medicare or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).

Clinical Photography

As part of your care and treatment planning, Albany Skin Clinic and Aesthetic Services may take clinical photographs. These images form part of your medical record and are stored securely.

Clinical photographs will only be used for treatment, monitoring and healthcare purposes unless you provide separate written consent for any other use.

Heidi Health

Heidi is a transcription tool that clinicians at Albany Skin Clinic utilise during patient consults to assist them to accurately capture medical information. Heidi is compliant with the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act. All data is encrypted and securely stored on servers located within Australia.

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

We sometimes share your personal information:

• with other healthcare providers
• when it is required or authorised by law (eg 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 processes
• when there is a statutory requirement to share certain 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 the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) and this policy.

Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than in the course of providing healthcare 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 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. Our practice stores information as electronic records and archived paper records.

Our practice stores all personal information securely via the use of passwords, encrypted back-ups, confidentiality agreements for staff and secure cabinets.

All records will be retained until the earlier of 7 years from your last contact with the practice, or until you reach the age of 25.

Pioneer Health’s server security policy is designed to protect servers from unauthorised access, data breaches and other security threats. Security measures include:

• antivirus software installed and updated regularly
• firewalls configured to block unauthorised traffic
• restricted server access to authorised users only
• secure server storage with restricted physical access
• regular software patching and updates
• regular onsite and offsite backups.

How can you access and correct your personal information?

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. You can lodge this request either via email (admin@pioneerhealth.com.au) or telephone.

Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. You may also request that we correct or update your information in writing.

How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint?

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 your complaint in accordance with our resolution procedure.

Complaints should be addressed to:

General Manager
Albany Skin Clinic
2 Pioneer Road
Centennial Park WA 6330
admin@pioneerhealth.com.au
9842 2822

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 business days and aim to fully investigate your complaint within 30 business days.

You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call 1300 363 992.

Privacy and our website

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to improve your experience, understand how our website is used, and support our communication and marketing activities.

We may use third-party services such as Google Analytics and Meta (Facebook) to collect information about how visitors interact with our website. This information may include pages visited, time spent on the site, and actions taken such as clicking a link or submitting an enquiry.

The information collected through these technologies does not directly identify you, but it may be used to help us improve our services and provide relevant information about our services to people who have visited our website.

You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings.

If you “like” or comment on our social media pages, we will have access to your social media name and any information you choose to make public through those platforms.

Data breach

In the event of a privacy breach, the practice will respond in accordance with our Data Breach Response Plan.

Policy review statement

This privacy policy will be reviewed annually to ensure it remains current and compliant with applicable legislation.

The Practice will:

• provide a copy of this policy upon request
• ensure staff comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP)
• take reasonable steps to implement practices and systems that protect personal information
• collect personal information for the primary purpose of managing a patient’s healthcare and associated business activities.

The Practice staff will take reasonable steps to ensure patients understand:

• what information has been and is being collected
• why the information will be used or disclosed
• why and when consent is necessary
• the Practice’s procedures for access and correction of information, and responding to privacy complaints.