Introduction

To meet your expectations regarding privacy and confidentiality, Dr. Ian Chinsee has operational processes and procedures to comply with:

• Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), contained in the Privacy Act 1988;

• Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) Code of Practice, related to how we market to our customers;

• Spam Act 2003, concerning electronic marketing;

• Do Not Call Register Act 2006, regarding telemarketing; and

• Telecommunications Industry Standard 2007, related to telemarketing.

Collection

We collect information necessary and relevant to provide you with medical care and manage our medical practice. This may include your name, address, date of birth, gender, health information, family history, credit card, direct debit details, and contact information. This information may be stored on our computer medical records system and/or in handwritten medical records.

Wherever possible, we will collect information directly from you. However, we may also need to collect information from other sources, such as treating specialists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals, and other healthcare providers.

Information may be collected via phone, in writing, in person at our clinic, or online if you transact with us digitally. This information may be gathered by both medical and non-medical staff.

In emergency situations, we may also collect information from your relatives or friends.

We may be legally required to retain medical records for specific periods, depending on your age when we provide services.

Use and Disclosure

We treat your personal information as strictly private and confidential. We use or disclose it only for purposes directly related to your care and treatment or in ways you would reasonably expect, such as sharing blood test results with your specialist or requesting x-rays.

In certain circumstances, we may be required or permitted by law to disclose your personal information to third parties, including Medicare, police, insurers, solicitors, government bodies, tribunals, courts, hospitals, or debt-collection agents. We may occasionally provide statistical data to third parties for research purposes.

We may also disclose information to external contractors to perform activities on our behalf, such as IT service providers, solicitors, or debt-collection agents. We enforce security and confidentiality requirements to ensure they handle your personal information appropriately and only for the tasks we assign them.

Data Quality and Security

We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete, current, and relevant. Our staff may ask you to confirm your contact details during consultations. Please inform us if any information we hold is incorrect or outdated.

Personal information is protected by:

• Securing our premises;

• Implementing passwords and varying access levels on databases to limit unauthorized access, interference, and disclosure;

• Providing locked cabinets and rooms for physical record storage.

Corrections

If you believe the information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated, please contact us in writing (see details below).

Access

You are entitled to request access to your medical records. Please submit your request in writing, and we will respond within a reasonable time.

There may be a fee for the administrative costs associated with retrieving and providing copies of your medical records.

Access may be denied in certain circumstances permitted by law, such as if disclosure could seriously threaten your health or safety. We will explain why access is denied and outline your options.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about the privacy of your personal information, please contact us in writing. We will review and attempt to resolve the complaint.

If you are dissatisfied with our handling of the complaint or the outcome, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner or the Privacy Commissioner in your State or Territory.

Patients dissatisfied with our services have the right to make a complaint. We provide information on complaint mechanisms, including:

• Raising and resolving the complaint directly with the practitioner who provided the surgery;

• Accessing the clinic’s complaint process;

• Making a complaint to the health complaints entity in the state or territory where the surgery was performed;

• Making a complaint to AHPRA, the Health Care Complaints Commission, or the Office of the Health Ombudsman (in Queensland).

Medical practitioners must ensure that any non-disclosure agreement (NDA) they use clarifies that a patient or their representative can still make a complaint to AHPRA, the Health Care Complaints Commission, or the Office of the Health Ombudsman (in Queensland).

Overseas Transfer of Data

Dr. Ian Chinsee may transfer personal information to countries outside Australia. We will only do so in compliance with applicable Australian data protection and privacy laws. We will take reasonable steps to protect personal information, regardless of the country in which it is stored or transferred.

Contact

For queries, complaints, or requests for access to medical records, please contact:

info@drchinsee.com.au
(07) 3707 3169

INFORMATION ON THIS SITE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE