Purpose and Scope
Sydney Paediatric Specialists Pty Ltd trading as Sydney Child Development Specialists is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect. We have developed a policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Privacy Act’).
Please note that any reference made to “we”, “our”, or “us” refers to Sydney Paediatric Specialists Pty Ltd.
This policy is to inform you of the following:
- the kinds of information that we collect and hold;
- how we collect and hold personal information;
- the purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information;
- how we keep your information safe;
- how you may access your personal information and seek the correction of that information;
- how you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with such a complaint;
The type of personal information collected may depend on your interaction with us. For example, we may collect:
- Your name, address, date of birth, email, other contact details and other personal information
- Medicare number
- Health fund details
- Bank and credit card details
- Medical information such as but not limited to, medical history, scans, pathology reports
- Any other information that you provide to use directly through our website, emails, letters and phone conversations
We will generally collect personal information:
- from you directly when you provide your details to us. This might be via a face to face discussion, telephone conversation, telehealth session, registration form or online form
- from third parties where the Privacy Act or other law allows it – this may include, but is not limited to: other members of your treating team, diagnostic centres, specialists, hospitals, electronic prescription services, Medicare, your health insurer, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
In general, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:
- to provide health services to you
- for consultations with other doctors and allied health professional involved in your healthcare
- to obtain, analyse and discuss test results from diagnostic and pathology laboratories
- to communicate with you in relation to the health service being provided to you
- to comply with our legal obligations, including, but not limited to, mandatory notification of communicable diseases or mandatory reporting under applicable child protection legislation.
- Where there is a serious and imminent threat to an individual’s life, health, or safety; or a serious threat to public health or public safety.
- for identification and insurance claiming
- To liaise with your health fund, government and regulatory bodies such as Medicare
- to help us manage our accounts and administrative services, including billing, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts, management of our ICT systems
- For our website visitors, we may collect the following non-personally identifiable information such as but not limited to, operating system, browser type, version and language, page access times, pages viewed while browsing the website and referring website address. This collected information is used solely internally for the purpose of gauging visitor traffic, trends and delivering personalised content to you while you are at this website.
How we keep your information safe
Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes:
- securing our premises
- ensure access to our databases holding your personal information are password protected and placing varying access levels to protect electronic information from unauthorised access, modification, interference and disclosure
- Confidentiality agreement is entered into by all employees, contractors and agents at the time of their engagement or employment. We will view unauthorised disclosure as serious misconduct
- Your information will not be transferred to an overseas entity unless that entity has a
similar privacy regime or only with your consent.
How can you access and correct your personal information?
You have a right to seek access to, and correction of the personal information which we hold about you. We reserve the right to charge a fee for searching for, and providing access to, your information on a per request basis.
For details on how to access and correct your health record, please contact our practice under the “Contact Us” section of our website. We will normally respond to your request within 10 business days.
Privacy related questions and complaints
If you have any questions about privacy-related issues or wish to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles or the handling of your personal information by us, you may lodge your complaint in writing to info@sydneycds.com.au. We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.
If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the OAIC:
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Fax: +61 2 9284 9666
Post: GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/how-do-i-make-a-privacy-complaint
Updates to this Policy
This Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and other necessary developments. Updates will be publicised on the practice’s website.