Privacy Policy

The Children’s Allergy and Specialists Clinic Privacy Policy

Current as of 1st September 2021

The Children’s Allergy and Specialists Clinic is committed to protecting your personal information collected by us and ensuring that it is managed professionally in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). The Children’s Allergy and Specialists Clinic comply with the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) and Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth).

This privacy policy outlines how we collect your personal information (including your health information) and how we use it within our practice, and the circumstances in which it will be shared with third parties.

What personal information we collect and why?

The Children’s Allergy and Specialists Clinic collects your personally identifiable information when you register as a patient of our practice so that our doctor and the support team are able to provide you with the best possible healthcare. Your personal information can also be used for the purpose of financial claims and payments, practice audits and normal business processes.

The type of personal information we collect includes:

Your and/or your child’s name, address, date of birth, contact details (phone/mobile number, email address)
Information about your child’s health condition, medical history, social and family history, risk factors, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, and treatment your child may have already received
Results and reports received from other health service providers and their details
Medicare number or DVA number for identification and claiming purposes
Private Health Fund details

Your personal information collected by us will be only accessible to the team member for the mere purpose of providing the healthcare and/or for administrative/financial purposes. On employment with our practice all the staff members are required to sign a Confidentiality Agreement.

Any unsolicited information about any patient received by us is not collected and is either destroyed or de-identified.

How do we collect your personal information?

We will collect your personal information only as legally required by lawful means. The various means used to collect your personal information are as follows:

Directly and in person (primarily), over the phone, by email, SMS, or by completing our online or hard copy forms
On the day of your first appointment, our practice staff will ask you to fill

– Patient Registration Form and to collect your personal and demographic information.
– Medical Information Questionnaire, and
– Consent form for Skin Prick Test and Food Challenge (if applicable)

The information held by us about you either comes from you or arises as a consequence of information provided by you.

If we cannot possibly collect it from you directly, then this information required for the purpose of providing you health care services can also be collected from:

Your guardian/carer
Other involved healthcare providers such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
Your Private Health Fund, Medicare or DVA

Who do we share your personal information with and when?

Your personal information collected by us will be shared with others for the purpose of providing you the health care or as legally required. Third parties we share or could possibly share your personal information with are:

Other healthcare providers.
Third parties who work with our practice for business purposes (such as IT providers and accreditation agencies).
Mandatory notification of certain diseases which is a legal requirement
Court subpoenas required by law
When necessary to reduce or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent.
During the course of providing medical services through Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP), or My Health Record system.

We do not share your personal information for marketing purposes without your prior consent.

We will ask for your express consent before sharing your personal information with any third party for reasons not described by this policy.

We have no intent to share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.

How we store and protect your personal information?

Your personal information will be held at our practice in various forms including:

Paper records
Email records
Electronic records
Audio recordings (doctors dictated letters)
X-rays, CT scans
Videos and photos

We use high quality hardware, protocols and policies to protect the data from misuse, loss, or unauthorised access, we hold in our practice or the cloud-based practice software. The online information is encrypted and accessible only by authorised personnel using authentication procedures. Each staff member has their own username and password to access the system and is not shared with other members.

Our staff are aware and trained to respect and protect the privacy of your personal information. On employment with our practice all the staff members are required to sign a Confidentiality Agreement. Your personal information will be stored on our records for a minimum of 7 years from the last date of seeing the patient. If the patient is a child, then the record is kept until the patient attains the age of 25 years of age.

Information on papers is destroyed by micro shredding.

How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?

You have the right to access your personal information we hold and notify us in case it needs correction. Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information.

A request for access to your personal information should be made in writing and will be processed within 30 days. Any such request will be forwarded to our Practice Manager via:

Phone: 02 7226 1450

Email: h.singh@thechildrensallergy.com.au

We generally do not charge you for the access to your personal information. But in some circumstances, you may be charged administration, or other fees to reasonably cover our costs in fulfilling your request.

How can you lodge a privacy related complaint and how it will be handled at our practice?

Our practice takes the privacy of its patients’ personal information very seriously. Any concerns or complaints about privacy of your personal information is our priority and should be expressed in writing. Please provide us with sufficient information supporting your complaint. Please contact our Practice Manager via:

Phone: 02 7226 1450

Email: h.singh@thechildrensallergy.com.au

Our practice will attempt to resolve such concerns/complaints and will notify you in writing of the outcome within 30 days of the receipt of the written concern/complaint.

In case you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact us directly to discuss your concerns, or lodge a complaint with the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au or by calling
1300 363 992.

Dealing with this anonymously

We respect your right to deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym if it is practicable to do so or unless we are requested or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.

Policy Review Statement

We endeavour to review this privacy policy regularly to ensure it is updated with any changes that may occur. Any changes to our policy will be effectively updated in written and on our website.

For more information about the Privacy Policy in Australia, visit the website of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact our Practice Manager via:
Phone: 02 7226 1450
Email: h.singh@thechildrensallergy.com.au

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