Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
Key Components
Patient records include vital information to guide clinical care and maintain safety:
- Personal & Demographic Details: Name, contact info, date of birth, next of kin, and emergency contacts.
- Clinical History: Past illnesses, diagnoses, progress notes, and consultation records.
- Medical Data: Lab test results, radiology images, prescribed medications, and vaccination records.
- Safety Alerts: Documented allergies, adverse drug reactions
Information Quality and Security
Our goal is to ensure that your information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. To assist us with this, please contact us if any of the details you have provided have changed or if you believe the information we have is not accurate, not complete or not up-to- date.
The storage, use and, where necessary, the transfer of personal health information will be undertaken in a secure manner that protects patient privacy. We will take appropriate measures to protect electronic materials stored and generated in hard copy. It is necessary for medical practices to keep patient information after a patient’s last attendance for as long as required by law or is prudent having regard to administrative requirements.
Purpose
Background and rationale
The Australian Privacy Principles, known as APP, provide a privacy protection framework that supports the rights and obligations of collecting, holding, using, accessing and correcting personal information. The APP consist of 13 principle-based laws and apply equally to paper-based and digital environments. The APP complement the long-standing general practice obligation to manage personal information in a regulated, open and transparent manner.
This policy will guide Practice staff in meeting these legal obligations. It also details to patients how the Practice uses their personal information. The policy must be made available to patients upon request.
Practice procedure
The Practice will:
- provide a copy of this policy upon request
- ensure staff follow the APP and deal appropriately with inquiries or concerns
- take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to implement practices, procedures and systems to
- ensure compliance with the APP and deal with inquiries or complaints
- collect personal information for the primary purpose of managing a patient’s healthcare and for financial claims
and payments.
Staff responsibility:
The Practice’s staff will take reasonable steps to ensure patients understand:
- what information has been and is being collected
- why the information is being collected, and whether this is due to a legal requirement
- how the information will be used or disclosed
- why and when their consent is necessary
- the Practice’s procedures for access and correction of information, and responding to complaints of information breaches, including by providing this policy.
Consent:
By engaging with our services, patients consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of their personal information as outlined in this policy. If you do not agree to this, please inform us before providing your information.
Audio and Visual Recording
Our practice does not record audio or video of patient consultations as standard operational practice. In the rare event that a consultation needs to be recorded for specific clinical, training, or assessment purposes, your medical practitioner will discuss this with you beforehand. Consent must be obtained and recorded in the patient file.
A recording will never take place without your explicit, separate, written or recorded verbal consent. You have the right to refuse or withdraw your consent at any time before, during, or after the consultation, and your decision will not impact your ongoing care. If a recording is made with your permission, it is treated as highly sensitive health information, stored securely within your patient file, and managed under strict retention guidelines.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning Tools: e.g. Lyrebird.
Only Dr Don is using Lyrebird -integrated AI scribe within Best Practice.
Patient is informed prior to consultation where Dr is using Lyrebird Patient must complete a consent form prior to the consultation.
Lyrebird automates patient notes using a fully integrated AI Medical Scribe specially engineered for clinical environments it starts recording from the patient record and will generate clinical notes in a standard format, ready for one-touch write-back into Bp Premier at the end of the consultation.
To support our practitioners in delivering high-quality, efficient care, our practice may utilise secure Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (such as ambient AI medical scribes) during consultations. These tools assist in converting conversation into clinical documentation and draft notes.
- Active Consent Required: Your practitioner will explicitly ask for your permission before activating any AI program during your consultation. You can opt out at any time, and the practitioner will document the session manually.
- Data Privacy and Storage: All AI applications used by our practice comply with the Australian Privacy Principles. Any audio or text processed by these tools is strictly encrypted. Audio recordings are used only for real-time transcription and are immediately and permanently deleted upon completion of the summary. No patient data processed by our AI tools is used to train public algorithms, and all data processing strictly aligns with Australian privacy laws.
Collection of information
The Practice will need to collect personal information as a provision of clinical services to a patient at the practice.
We collect personal information from our patients to provide medical care and services, including:
- Name, address, date of birth, gender, and contact details
- Health information, including medical history, diagnoses, treatment, and test results
- Emergency contact details
- Medicare number, private health insurance details, and billing information
We collect personal information directly from our patients when they provide it to us during consultations or through any
other interactions with our practice.
The Practice’s procedure for collecting personal information is customized below:
- Practice staff collect patients’ personal and demographic information via registration when patients present to the Practice for the first time. Patients are encouraged to pay attention to the collection statement attached to/within the form and information about the management of collected information and patient privacy.
- During providing medical services, the Practice’s healthcare practitioners will consequently collect
further personal information.
- Personal information may also be collected from the patient’s guardian or responsible person (where practicable
and necessary), or from any other involved healthcare specialists.
Images may be collected and used, including:
- CCTV footage: Collected from the clinic premises for security and safety purposes
- Photos and medical images: These can be taken using personal devices for medical purposes, following the guidelines outlined in our guide on using personal devices for medical images.
Storage and Security of Information
Storage and Security of Information
We take reasonable steps to protect patient’s personal information from misuse or disclosure. Our practice uses secure systems to store and handle patient’s information, including physical and digital safeguards.
Use and disclosure of information
We use patient’s personal information for:
- Providing medical care and treatment
- Managing healthcare records
- Communicating with patients regarding appointments, results, and health reminders
- Billing and insurance purposes
- Complying with legal or regulatory obligations
We may disclose patient’s personal information to:
- Other healthcare providers involved in patients’ treatment (e.g., specialists, pharmacies)
- Medical insurers or health funds (as required for billing and claims)
- Government agencies for regulatory and reporting purposes (e.g., the Department of Health, My Health Record)
- Legal entities where required by law
The Practice will not disclose personal information to anyone outside Australia without need and without patient consent.
Exceptions to disclose without patient consent are where the information is:
- Required by law and necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or itis impractical to obtain the patient’s consent
- When it is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g. some diseases require mandatory
notification)
- When it is provision of medical services, through electronic prescribing, My Health Record (e.g. via Shared Health Summary)
- When we write a referral to other services or specialists our electronic patient record software allows us to choose from a drop-down menu what information is included or excluded. You also have the option to request information not be included, just let your doctor know with purpose of a confidential dispute resolution process.
The Practice will not use any personal information in relation to direct marketing to a patient without that patient’s express consent. Patients may opt-out of direct marketing at any time by notifying the Practice in a letter, mail or via HotDoc.
The Practice evaluates all unsolicited information it receives to decide if it should be kept, acted on or destroyed.
The Practice may use patient’s personal information to improve the quality of the services offered to patients through research, analysis of patient data for quality improvement and for training activities with the practice team.
We only provide de-identified data to other organisations to improve population health outcomes. The information is secure, patients cannot be identified, and the information is stored within Australia. Patients may inform reception staff if they do not want their information included.
Document automation technologiesDocument automation technologies
Document automation is where systems use existing data to generate electronic documents relating to medical conditions and healthcare. The practice uses document automation technologies to create documents such as referrals, which are sent to other healthcare providers. These documents contain only your relevant medical information. These document automation technologies are used through secure medical software Best Practice. All users of the medical software have their own unique user credentials and password and can only access information that is relevant to their role in the
practice team. The practice complies with the Australian privacy legislation and APPs to protect your information. All data, both electronic and paper are stored and managed in accordance with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Privacy and managing health information guidance.
Access and Correction of Personal Information
Patients have the right to access and request correction of their personal health information. To request access, please contact us at (03) 5923 3006. We will charge a fee for providing access to patient information, but patients are informed beforehand.
Anonymity and Pseudonymity
Patients can 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.
Data Retention
We retain patients’ personal health information for as long as necessary to provide medical care and comply with legal and regulatory requirements. The retention period may vary depending on the nature of the information and the services provided.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be communicated through our practice or posted on our website.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we handle patients’ personal information, please contact us at:
Unique Medical Phone 035923 3006
[email protected]
Patient feedback
This clinic is keen to receive feedback from our patients on the services we provide. This is important to us to help improve our service and meet requirements
A “Suggestion Box” is in the Waiting Area should you wish to make use of it. You have the right to remain anonymous if you chose.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of the care you receive from this practice, we would like to know about it. Please discuss your concerns with your doctor or the practice manager.
Should you wish someone to mediate on your behalf, you could contact:
Health Complaints Commissioner Telephone: (61 3) 9032 3100
Level 26, 570 Bourke Street Toll Free: 1300 582 113
Melbourne Vic 3000 Web: https://hcc.vic.gov.au
If you have a complaint regarding how Unique Medical handles your information, or you believe there has been a breach of The Privacy Act 1988 we urge you in the first instance to contact the Practice Manager.
Alternatively, you may contact;
The Office of Australian Information Officer Telephone: 1300 363 992
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001 Fax: (02) 9284 9666
Email: [email protected]
Web: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints
Help lodging a complaint
If require assistance lodging a complaint you may use the services below:
Hearing or speech assistance National Relay Service
Phone: 1300 555 727
Translator https://www.oaic.gov.au/contact-us#AssistedContact
To be reviewed: September 2027
Frequently Ask Questions
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Emergency?
24 Hour Ready
Call Us for Emergency
+146.002
Contact Info
- 100-106 High St (AKA: South Gippsland Hwy), Cranbourne VIC 3977
- [email protected]
- 03 5923 3006