podiatry@belmont Privacy Policy

1. Purpose of this Policy

The purpose of this privacy policy is to provide information about the Personal Information, including Health Information, Podiatry@Belmont (Clinic) collects, how that information will be handled, how you can access and correct that information and how to make a complaint about the handling of the information.

2. Personal Information and Health Information

As is required by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) (Health Act), the Clinic ensures the protection of any Personal Information and Health Information they receive.
‘Personal Information’ is defined in the Privacy Act as:
information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:
a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

‘Health Information’ is defined in the Health Act as:

Information or an opinion about –

a) the physical, mental or psychological health (at any time) of an individual; or

b) a disability of an individual;

c) an individual’s expressed wishes about the future provision of health services to the individual; or

d) Personal Information collected to provide a health service.

3. Type of Information Collected

The Clinic collects and holds the following Personal Information and Health Information:

 Your name, date of birth, address and emergency contact details
 Telephone numbers
 E-mail address
 Occupation
 Medical history, including previous treatment
 DVA and Medicare Numbers and referrals if applicable
 Referring General Practitioner (source of referral)
 Medical reports (eg: x-ray, ultra-sound)

4. Collection of Information

4.1. The Clinic collects Personal Information and Health Information only by fair and lawful means where it is reasonable and practicable to do so.
4.2. If the Clinic is required to collect Personal Information under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order, the Clinic will inform you that the collection is so required, including details of the law or court/tribunal order requiring the collection.
4.3. The Clinic collects Personal Information and Health Information when you make enquiries with the Clinic or become a patient of the Clinic. If you do not provide the information requested, the Clinic may be unable to provide the services to you.
4.4. The Clinic may collect Personal Information and Health Information about you over the phone, by email, through the Clinic website or by the completion of our online or hard copy forms.
4.5. The Clinic will only collect Personal Information and Health Information about you from you, unless:
4.5.1. you consent to the collection of the information from someone else; or
4.5.2. it is unreasonable or impracticable to collect the information from you.
4.6. If the Clinic collects Personal Information from a third party, the Clinic will take reasonable steps to inform you that Personal Information and Health Information has been collected and the circumstances of such collection.
4.7. If Health Information is given in confidence to the Clinic about an individual by a person other than the individual to whom the information relates, the Clinic will take steps to record that the information is given in confidence and that it is to remain confidential.

5. Unsolicited Information

Where the Clinic receives Personal Information or Health Information which was not solicited by us, the Clinic must, within a reasonable period after receiving the information, determine whether or not the Clinic could have collected this information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If it is determined that the Clinic could not have collected the information and that the information is not contained in a Commonwealth record, then the Clinic must as soon as practicable, destroy the information or make sure the information is de-identified, as long as it is reasonable and lawful to do so.

6. Storage of Information

6.1. The Clinic will take all reasonable steps to protect the security of the Personal Information and Health Information that the Clinic holds. This includes taking appropriate measures to protect electronic materials and materials stored and generated in hard copy.
6.2. The information collected is stored off site in a secured PracSuite cloud located within Australia
6.3. The Clinic stores Personal Information and Health Information to:
6.3.1. ensure transactions can be finalised;
6.3.2. keep its database up to date;
6.3.3. record the treatment the Clinic and other health practitioners are providing to the individual to enable the Clinic to continue ongoing treatment;
6.3.4. enable the Clinic to understand an individual’s medical history; and
6.3.5. comply with applicable laws.
6.4. The Clinic must not delete Health Information relating to an individual, even if it is later found to be inaccurate unless:
6.4.1. the deletion is permitted under any law; or
6.4.2. the later of:
6.4.2.1. in the case of Health Information collected while the individual was a child, after the individual attains the age of 25 years; or
6.4.2.2. in any case, more than 7 years after the last occasion on which a health service was provided to the individual.

7. Use of Information

7.1. The Clinic collects Personal Information and Health Information for the following purposes:
7.1.1. to provide clinical care;
7.1.2. to monitor quality and satisfaction;
7.1.3. to comply with all applicable laws;
7.1.4. to conduct research (provided that you have consented to this use);
7.1.5. to fulfil billing practices;

7.2. Your Personal Information and Health Information will not be used for any purpose other than these purposes, unless:
7.2.1. such use is authorised or required by law; or
7.2.2. you have consented to the use.
7.3. The Clinic may disclose Health Information to an immediate family member in certain circumstances which includes, but is not limited to, circumstances where the disclosure is necessary to provide appropriate health services to the individual.
7.4. The Clinic may only use or disclose Personal Information and Health Information about you for the purposes of direct marketing if you have consented to the use or disclosure of the information for that purpose. You may withdraw this consent at any time.

8. Disclosure of Information

8.1. The Clinic will not disclose Personal Information or Health Information about you except where it is:
8.1.1. in accordance with the law;
8.1.2. authorised by you in a contract between you and the Clinic; or
8.1.3. in accordance with consent granted by you.
8.2. If consent to disclose is obtained from you, the Clinic will not transfer information outside Victoria unless the information will have appropriate privacy protection and the transfer is necessary for provision of the podiatry services.

9. Accessing or Correcting Information

9.1. The Clinic aims to ensure that the Personal Information and Health Information it holds is accurate, up-to-date and complete. Please ensure any information you provide is accurate, up-to-date and complete, and notify the Clinic if you believe it holds information that is outdated, inaccurate or incomplete.
9.2. You are entitled to access your Personal Information and Health Information held by the Clinic at any time.
9.3. If you wish to access your Personal Information and Health Information, you must lodge a request for access with the Clinic. The Clinic is entitled to deny access to you if:
9.3.1. you do not give the Clinic reasonable notice of your request for access;
9.3.2. you fail to provide sufficient proof of identity;
9.3.3. providing access would create an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
9.3.4. providing access would pose a serious threat to life, health or safety to any individual or to the public in general;
9.3.5. the request is frivolous; or
9.3.6. denial of access is otherwise authorised by law.
9.4. The Clinic may charge a fee to cover its reasonable costs in meeting an access request.

10. Internal Sharing of Information

Practitioners and staff at the Clinic may share your Personal Information and Health Information with each other for the purpose of providing you the services. This form of use and disclosure of information is directly related to the purposes for which the information is collected (please refer to clause 7.1 of this policy to review the purposes of collection).

11. External Sharing of Information

If an individual requests the Clinic to make the individuals Health Information available to another health service provider or otherwise authorises the Clinic to make the information available, the Clinic will, upon payment of a fee to cover its reasonable costs in meeting this request, provide a copy or a written summary of that Health Information to the other health service provider.

12. Transfer or Closure of the Clinic

In the event that the Clinic is to be sold, transferred or closed, Health Information will be handled in accordance with Health Privacy Principle 10 in the Health Act.

13. Complaints

Complaints about breaches of the Privacy Act and/or the Heath Act by the Clinic may be made by contacting our privacy officer: Lyndal McGuire, 52430130 lyndy@podiatryatbelmont.com.au

This Privacy Policy was last modified on 10th November 2022

Podiatry At Belmont (https://www.podiatrybelmont.com.au) respects and is committed to protecting your privacy. We thus take extraordinary steps to handle any personal information collected on our website only in ways compatible with this Privacy Policy.

This website may collect certain information about your visit – such as the name of the internet service provider and the internet protocol (IP) address through which you access the internet, the date and time you access the site, the page(s) that you visit while on the site, and the internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site.

Podiatry At Belmont is the sole owner of the information collected on this website. We do not (or will never) sell, share or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in our privacy statement below. This information is only used to administer our website, analyse trends and to generally help improve our site, and will never result in your receiving of spam e-mails.

Information gathered from visitors

In common with other websites, log files are stored on the Podiatry At Belmont web server - saving details such as the visitor's IP address, browser type, referring page and time of visit. Cookies may be used to remember visitor preferences when interacting with the website. This information is not linked to a visitor's personal identification in any way.

Information entered on our enquiry form - including, but not limited to, email addresses - will not be sold, rented or leased to third parties.

Where registration is required, the visitor's email and a username may be stored on the server. Email addresses will not be sold, rented or leased to third parties.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the visitor's hard drive containing information about the visitor. Cookies and tracking technologies are useful for gathering information, such as browser types and operating systems, tracking the number of visitors to a website and understanding how visitors use the websites they browse. This information can help customise a website for specific users. Podiatry At Belmont generally uses cookies for login convenience only.

Links

This Privacy Policy applies solely to Podiatry At Belmont. We are not necessarily aware of, nor are responsible for, differences in privacy statements of external websites linked to or from ours.

Changes to our policy

We may need to update this policy from time to time, in order to address new issues and reflect changes on our website. Please refer back to this policy regularly.

Continued use of the Podiatry At Belmont website signifies your acceptance of our Privacy Policy.