Privacy Policy

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Privacy and Fee Consent Statement

To enable ongoing care and total quality improvement within this practice and in keeping with the Privacy Act (1988) and the Australian Privacy Principles , we wish to provide you with sufficient information on how your personal health information may be used or disclosed.

Your information will only be used for the purposes for which it was collected, or as otherwise permitted or requested by law and we respect your right to determine how your personal health 

information is used or disclosed.

Information collection and storage 

Medical care requires full knowledge of patient health information by all members of the medical team. To ensure quality and continuity of patient care, patient’s health information may be shared with other healthcare providers/diagnostic facilities from time to time. Some information about patients is also provided to Medicare and Private Health Funds, if relevant, for legal, billing and Medicare rebate purposes.

All clinical consultation notes and identifying information about you is stored in a password protected environment on a web-based clinical software program called Xestro. This information is only accessible to your clinician, and authorised practice personnel upon whom we depend, in order to provide you with the service. Under Medicare requirements, clinicians are required to write back to referrers within certain timeframes during treatment, hence some information about you may be shared with your referrer. 

You are entitled to access and correct your personal information kept on file at any stage, subject to exceptions in the relevant legislation.

By attending this appointment, you (as a patient or as a guardian) are consenting, that on obtaining your personal health information it may be used or disclosed by the practice for the following purposes:

At all times, we are required to ensure your details are treated with the utmost confidentiality.  Your records are very important and we will take all steps necessary to ensure they remain confidential and safe and will only be released with your consent or for purposes as outlined in the privacy principles.

Limitations to privacy

We will not share information with parents, partners, employers, insurers, or other people without your consent. Sometimes, it is helpful for your recovery to include trusted loved ones in your treatment and/or to share information with other health care providers – this would be done only with your consent. 

However, there are exceptions under the legislation where we may share information without your consent in the interest of your wellbeing, or to met legal obligations, under these circumstances, your clinician would make every effort to discuss this with you, first. 

On some occasions we may seek advice from respected colleagues to provide the best possible level of care. We may also discuss various cases from time to time for the purpose of ongoing education. In these situations, we do not allow our colleagues to see your file notes and we do not reveal your name or identifying details. Such discussions between clinicians are vital for ongoing professional development and education. Sometimes, clinicians share with patients and peers some observations they have made regarding symptoms and recovery strategies of other patients. As clinicians, we gain new learning each time we engage in therapy with a new person. This new learning informs how we help others, but the sharing of information is done in a way that does not identify any individual.

Privacy in online communications

To maintain privacy and confidentiality during telehealth (phone or video) consultations, we recommend that you have a private space where you cannot be overheard, and where you can concentrate on the session (e.g. not having responsibility for children at the same time where possible).

Please note if you are driving, you will be asked to pull over.

Your clinician will also use these settings and will never record a telehealth session to maintain your privacy. Your clinician will ask you to respect their privacy by agreeing not to make recordings of your sessions and not to use materials from our sessions for purposes other than therapy. If you wish to record sessions or use session material for other purposes, you must seek your clinician’s consent to do so.

Please be aware that information transmitted by email or SMS is also potentially vulnerable to interception and can never be made 100% secure. Despite this, it may be necessary for us to communicate with you’re your referring doctor or other health professionals by email, for example to transmit documents such as forms, invoices, letters, referrals or therapy information. To increase your privacy when using email, please ensure that any email or SMS contains minimal personal information.