Please ensure you read and agree to our Bookings, Fees & Cancellations Policy, Respect and Trust Policy and Privacy Policy prior to booking and attending your appointment.
By booking an appointment and/or proceeding with the establishment of a file for your child you will have indicated your consent that any private health care information provided, obtained or recorded pursuant to the establishment or continuance of your health care relationship with one or more clinicians conducting their practice in association with Prosper Paediatrics will be kept and managed according to Prosper Paediatrics Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our friendly staff.
Privacy Policy
This policy is about the Personal Health Information collected, used and administered to provide health and/or disability care for your child
To provide the best health care to your child, Prosper Paediatrics and your provider require your consent to collect, record, and, as appropriate and necessary to their care, communicate your child’s relevant personal health information. This information will include your child’s health information and relevant family personal health information, including of you as parents. As your child matures, particularly into later adolescence, they will increasingly take charge of their personal health information and any matters of consent that would arise. Younger adolescents growing towards this maturity may also need to begin taking responsibility for aspects of their health decision-making. For mature adolescents 16 years of age or older, the practice will continue to accept parental and guardian involvement in decision-making, bookings and appointments, in co-operation with the older adolescent child unless the adolescent patient advises they do not wish this parental involvement to continue or wish to limit parental involvement or access generally or in regard to specific matters.
We are committed to protecting the privacy of patient information and to handling your personal information in a responsible manner in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, the Australian Privacy Principles and relevant State and Territory privacy legislation (referred to as privacy legislation).
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, how you may access that information and how you may seek the correction of any information. It also explains how you may make a complaint about a breach of privacy law.
This Privacy Policy is current from 01/06/2017 and will be reviewed at least every 2 years. From time to time we may make changes to our policy, processes and systems in relation to how we handle your personal information or to improve the explanation of the policy. Changes will be made to conform to any relevant changes in Australian Privacy Law or to better communicate our Privacy Policy. Our current privacy policy will be available on our website. A current privacy policy may also be requested, in the practice
What personal health information is collected and why?
We collect information that is necessary and relevant to provide your child’s medical care and treatment, and to manage our administration of your provider’s medical practice. This information may include the names, addresses, date of birth, gender, health information, Medicare and private health fund membership, contact details of you as parents or guardians, and your child. Information about your child’s health history and current health and development are collected. Relevant life and family circumstances of your child are collected.
This information may be stored on our computer medical records system, off-site server and/or in handwritten medical records as explained below. Credit card and direct debit details, if provided by you in writing, may be stored temporarily only in order to process a payment of an invoice before being immediately destroyed.
Wherever practicable we will only collect information from you personally, as the parents of a minor child. Your child, once aged 16 years or more, may elect to provide or change personal and contact information and access to their records. We may also need to collect information from other sources such as treating specialists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitals, other health care providers, Medicare, your health fund and the My Health record system. Your child’s teachers or carers may be asked for relevant information about the child if you consent to this.
We collect information in various ways, such as over the phone, or in writing, in person in our rooms or over the internet using email or our online forms and questionnaires. Both your health provider and the non-medical staff of Prosper Paediatrics may collect, record and file this information.
In emergencies, we may also need to collect information from you or your child’s relatives or friends.
Use and disclosure
Information is collected and held for administration, communication, billing and healthcare purposes. We will treat you and your child’s personal information as strictly private and confidential. We will only use or disclose it for purposes directly related to your child’s healthcare, or in ways that you would reasonably expect that we may use it for ongoing care and treatment. For example, the disclosure of blood test results to your child’s specialist or requests for x-rays. Information will be communicated regularly to your child’s GP, concerning assessment and diagnostic findings and to assist them manage their care. Information will be provided to allied health or other medical providers that is judged to be relevant to and needed for their care of your child and pursuant to your child being referred to them.
There are circumstances where we may be permitted or required by law to disclose your personal information to third parties. For example, to Medicare, Police, insurers, solicitors, government regulatory bodies, tribunals, courts of law, hospitals, to your nominated pharmacist in the form of faxed, posted or electronically transferred prescriptions or to the My Health record system.
We may provide de-identified statistical data to third parties for research purposes, first seeking your informed consent if the research guidelines require it, but in either case, privacy and confidentiality will be protected. Practice audits and analysis may use patient information to improve the provision of health care to patients and their families. Privacy and confidentiality of records would be protected by de-identification but otherwise, your child’s information would not be provided or used without your/ your child’s Informed consent.
Parental access to their child’s health information
Until your child is sixteen years old, both parents will have joint parental responsibility towards and access to this information and joint roles in information provision and care decisions unless a court order or orders restrict this. Patients sixteen years of age or older may limit or refuse one or all parental and previous guardian access and decision-making generally or in relation to specific matters and the adolescent patient’s consent will be required in the place of their parents once they reach their sixteenth birthday.
Other access
We may disclose information about you to outside contractors to perform activities on our behalf such as an IT service provider, or to a solicitor or debt collection agent. We may disclose information necessary to advise a referring doctor, or the private hospital where your baby was born, of reasons that will preclude any acceptance of further neonate referrals subject to security and confidentiality requirements limiting their use of your personal information to what is strictly necessary to the purpose of the disclosure
Data quality and security
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information about you and your child is accurate, complete, up to date and relevant. For this purpose our staff may ask you to confirm that your contact details are correct when you attend a consultation. We request that you advise us promptly of any changes to the personal or contact information we hold about you and your child. Any court orders relevant to our handling or use of or access to this personal or contact information must be provided to us without delay.
Personal information that we hold is protected by:
· securing our premises;
· placing passwords and varying access levels on databases to limit access and protect electronic information from unauthorised interference, access, modification and disclosure;
· storage of electronic data in Australian servers backed up frequently, to industry standards, and secured to industry standards .
· except where an individual provider advises a variation to this policy to you, we transfer, by scanning, all physical records to our electronic database as soon as reasonably possible and then destroy the physical record unless you request we return the physical copy to you.
· Some physical records, such as CD records of EEG reports, or X-rays, may not be suited to scanning and transfer to the electronic database, but may be required for further review. Prosper Paediatrics will file any associated report and information about online links to the digital file and, if requested by your provider, keep these records secured in dedicated storage containers in locked cabinets or store rooms within our secured premises for as long as clinically needed before offering to return these to the patient’s possession or destroying them if this offer is declined.
My Health Record
Ordinarily, your child’s/ your health record may be uploaded to My Health Record unless you indicate that you do not want this. You can advise this at any time.
Personal health information privacy in communications:
Prosper Paediatrics employs various measures to limit the risk of and mitigate against disclosure of personal information in communications. We request that parents’, guardian’ or the patient’s email and other addresses are provided in writing or by email reply to avoid transcription error. Email is not recommended for parental communication of clinical or sensitive information. Emails and faxes are sent with care, with various procedural measures, to avoid errors, unnecessary provision of personal information and with prominent warnings about privacy law and the responsibilities imposed when communications are sent in error to an unintended recipient. Secure electronic messaging is used preferably and wherever possible. Appointments with your provider are always recommended and provided for private consultation and health information recording.
Corrections
If you believe that the information we have about you is not accurate, complete or up to date, we ask that you contact us in writing (see details below).
Access
As parents/guardians of your child, or as a patient aged 16 years or more, you are entitled to request access to your child’s/your medical records. We request that you put your request in writing and we will respond to it within a reasonable time. Court Orders may limit or restrict these access rights.
There may be a fee for the administrative costs of retrieving and providing you with copies of your medical records. Fees may be charged for any redaction that is needed or requested.
Our policy handout Joint Parental Responsibility & Your Child's Healthcare provides further details about parental access to records. Court Orders that affect or restrict access to records or care decision-making, or that relate to risks to safety in the provision of certain information, must be provided without delay, whether your child is currently or previously in the care of the practice.
We may deny access to your medical records in certain circumstances permitted by law, for example, if disclosure may cause a serious threat to your health or safety. We will always tell you why access is denied and the options you have to respond to our decision.
Parents who are separated, especially if they are estranged or in conflict, are advised to ensure they have their own personal file and GP referral and to avoid having personal information recorded in their child’s file.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the privacy of your personal information (including complaints about our use of the My Health record system), we request that you contact us in writing. Upon receipt of a complaint, we will consider the details and attempt to resolve it in accordance with our complaints handling procedures.
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of a complaint or the outcome you may make an application to the Australian Information Commissioner or the Privacy Commissioner in your State or Territory.
Overseas transfer of data
We will not transfer your personal information to an overseas recipient unless we have your consent or we are required to do so by law.
Providers varying this Privacy Policy should provide written details to you of this variation.
A provider practising with the services of Prosper Paediatrics may vary this policy or adopt a different policy for their individual practice. In this case, they should provide details in writing of that variation or of their Privacy Policy.
Prosper Paediatrics, the providers and your child’s health records
Prosper Paediatrics provides a range of services to support our associated paediatricians and other paediatric specialist providers to conduct their individual practices. By providing administrative, reception, billing and other services and consulting space, we enable these providers to concentrate on their clinical work and their relationship with their patients and families in the conduct of their practices. Prosper Paediatrics helps to compile, store and administer your provider’s records for their care of your child. Prosper Paediatrics will continue to administer and store the record of your child’s healthcare on behalf of your provider unless your provider is able to do so. Prosper Paediatrics, your provider or its contractor or delegated entity, will retain and store paediatric medical records at least until a child’s 25th birthday or as otherwise required by law.
Contact
Please direct any queries, complaints or requests for access to medical records to:
The Practice Manager, Prosper Paediatrics
120 Kensington Road Toorak Gardens SA 5065
reception@pab.healthcare