At Hamley House Medical, we are committed to upholding the highest standards of privacy and confidentiality in line with current Australian privacy legislation and best practice guidelines. Our approach ensures that your personal information is handled responsibly and transparently, giving you confidence that your privacy is respected at every stage of your care. We regularly review our processes to keep pace with changes in legislation and healthcare delivery, ensuring ongoing compliance and protection of your rights.
The objective of this document is to provide you, our patient, with clear information on how your personal information is
collected and used within the practice. Occasionally we also need to share your personal information to involve others in your healthcare and this policy outlines when, how, and why we share your information.
RACGP define a patient health record as information held about a patient by the practice, whether in paper or electronic
format.
For enquiries concerning this policy, you can contact Helen Partridge or Janelle Eleftheriadis at info@hamleyhousemedical.com.au.
When you register as a patient of this practice, you provide consent for the GPs and practice staff to access and use your personal information to facilitate the delivery of healthcare. Access to your personal information is restricted to practice team members who require it for your care. If we ever use your personal information for purposes other than outlined in this document, we will obtain additional consent from you.
It is important to us that as our patient, you understand why we collect and use your personal information.
By acknowledging this Privacy Policy, you consent to us collecting, holding, using, retaining and disclosing your personal
information in the manners described below
The information we will collect about you includes your:
• names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
• medical information including medical history, medicines, allergies, and adverse reactions immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors Hamley House Medical Privacy Policy Page 2 of 5
• Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
• healthcare identifier numbers
• health fund details.
The practice may collect your personal information in several different ways:
When you make your first appointment, the practice team will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online appointment, or communicate with us using social media.
In some circumstances, personal information may also be collected from other sources, including:
Various types of images may be collected and used, including:
We sometimes share your personal information:
Only people who need to access your personal information will be able to do so. Other than providing medical services or as otherwise described in this policy, the practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent.
We do not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.
The practice may use your 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 may provide de-identified data to other organizations to improve population health outcomes. If we provide this
information to other organizations Patients cannot be identified from the information we share, the information is secure and is stored within Australia. You can let reception staff know if you do not want your de-identified information included.
At times, general practices are approached by research teams to recruit eligible patients into specific studies which
require access to identifiable information. You may be approached by a member of our practice team to participate in research. Researchers will not approach you directly without your express consent having been provided to the practice.
If you provide consent, you would then receive specific information on the research project and how your personal health
information will be used, at which point you can decide to participate or not participate in the research project
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.
The practice uses an AI scribe tool to support GPs take notes during their consultations with you. The AI scribe uses an audio recording of your consultation to generate a clinical note for your health record. The practice AI scribe service is Heidi.
Heidi:
The practice will only use data from our digital scribe service to provide healthcare to you.
Your personal information may be stored in various forms such as electronic records and visual records (e.g.: x-rays).
The practice stores all personal information securely in electronic format, in protected information systems. All electronic systems are password protected. Confidentiality agreements are signed with all employes and contractors.
Hamley House Medical has CCTV which is recorded and stored for 60 days. The recordings are stored in password protected files and only directors of Hamley House Medical can access the recordings. CCTV is not located in consulting rooms and treatment rooms.
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.
The practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. You can do this in writing, addressed to the Helen Partridge at helen@hamleyhousemedical.com.au or in person at the clinic, 1348 Old Sturt highway, Berri, SA.
The practice will respond to any requests to access or correct your personal information within 5 business days. The cost associated with providing your medical records will be advised upon request.
The practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. Sometimes, we will ask you to verify your personal information held by the practice is correct and current. You may request we correct or update your information. To do this please contact Helen Partridge via helen@hamleyhousemedical.com.au.
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with the resolution procedure. Complaints and concerns can be directed to Helen Partridge at helen@hamleyhousemedical.com.au, 1348 Old Sturt Highway, Berri or via phone: 75332200. The practice will respond to any complaints or concerns within 5 business days.
If you do not feel we have resolved your issue You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner will require you to give them time to respond before they investigate. For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC (Office of the Australian Information Commissioner) on 1300 363 992.
At Hamley House Medical, any personal information you share with us through website, email, and social media, is handled securely and confidentially. This practice uses analytics and cookies.
Our privacy policy is regularly reviewed to ensure compliance with current obligations.
If any changes are made:
Please check the policy periodically for updates. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
