Privacy

The provision of quality health care is our principal concern. It requires a doctor-patient relationship of trust and confidentiality. We regard patient health information as confidential and will only collect information concerning a patient's health with the consent of the patient.

A patient's personal information is handled in accordance with this practice's policy and consistent with the Privacy Act and the National Privacy Principles. Patients are entitled to know what personal information is held about them; how and under what circumstances they may have access to it; why it is held; its use; to whom and under what circumstances it may be disclosed; when consent is required for these purposes; and how it is stored.

Every effort will be made to discuss these matters with patients at the time personal health information is collected from patients attending this practice. Because there will be occasions when it is not practicable to make patients aware of these matters at the time of collection, this information is designed to outline how this practice endeavours to protect the privacy of patients' personal health information.

Collection, Use and Disclosure of your Information

Information about a patient's medical and family health history is needed to provide accurate medical diagnoses and appropriate treatment. We will be fair in the way we collect information about our patients. This information is generally collected from the patient, and otherwise with the patient's consent. However, from time to time we may receive patient information from others. When this occurs we will, wherever possible, make sure the patient knows we have received this information.

A patient's personal health information is used or disclosed for purposes directly related to their health care and in ways that are consistent with a patient's expectations. In the interests of the highest quality and continuity of health care this may include sharing information with other health care providers who comprised the patient's medical team from time to time. In addition there are circumstances when information has to be disclosed without patient consent, such as:

Emergency Situations

• by law, doctors are sometimes required to disclose information for public interest reasons, eg mandatory reporting of some communicable diseases
• it may be necessary to disclose information about a patient to fulfil a medical indemnity insurance obligation
• provision of information to Medicare or private health funds, if relevant, for billing and medical rebate purposes

In general a patient's health information will not be used for any other purposes without their consent. There are however some purposes for collection of information beyond providing health care, such as professional accreditation, quality assessments, clinical auditing and billing.

Access

A patient has a right to access their personal health information. They may ask to view the information or ask for a copy of a part or the whole record. While not required to give reasons for their request, a patient may be asked to clarify the scope of the request.

There are some circumstances in which access may be denied but in such an event, the patient will be advised of the reason.

A charge may be payable where the practice incurs costs in providing access This will depend on the nature of the access.

The material over which thee doctor has copyright might be subject to conditions that prevent further copying or publication without the doctor's permission.

Upon request a patient's health information held by this practice will be made available to another health service provider.

Parents/Guardians and Children

The right of children to privacy of their health information, based on the professional judgment of the doctor and consistent with the law, might at times restrict access to this information by parents or guardians.

Data security

The storage, use and , where necessary, transfer of personal health information will be undertaken in a secure manner that protects patient privacy. It is necessary for medical practices to keep patient information after a patient's last attendance for as long as is required by law or is prudent having regard to administrative requirements.

Identifiers

'Identifiers' are the numbers, letters or symbols that are used to identify patients with or without the use of name (e.g. Medicare numbers). We will limit the use of identifiers assigned to patients by Commonwealth Government agencies to those uses necessary to fulfil the obligations to those agencies.

Further Information

it is important to us that your expectations about the way in which we handle your personal health information are the same as ours.

Please do not hesitate to discuss with Dr Slattery any concerns about any issues related to the privacy of your personal health information.

Disclaimer

The practice: Adelaide Women's Advanced Reproductive Endosugery is an association of independent practitioners, and not a partnership.