Privacy Policy

Mundingburra Medical Centre is committed to protecting patient privacy and is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles. During the course of providing health services to you, the medical practice will collect personal /health information about you. The types of personal health information we collect may include; name, date of birth and contact details, Medicare number and medical history. The information may be used or disclosed by a health professional to gain or provide an overall understanding of all or any aspect of your health and may be shared between members of the treatment team. Your personal health information may also be used for future unrelated episodes of care. A full copy of the practice privacy policy is located on the noticeboard at the front reception desk. To read our privacy policy:

Mundingburra Medical Centre is committed to protecting patient privacy and is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles. A copy of the policy can be provided upon request.

Collection
During the course of providing health services to you, the medical practice will collect personal/health information about you. The types of personal health information we collect may include:

(a) Name, date of birth, address and contact details
(b) Medical number and medical insurance status (for identification and claiming purposes)
(c) Medical history
(d Healthcare identifiers
(e) Details of appointment of guardians or health attorneys (if any)
(f) Test results and clinical notes
(g) Details of admissions and referrals
(h) Records relating to the payment of fees and charges

Personal/health information will be collected by this organisation for the primary purpose of providing you with ongoing and holistic health care.

We are required by law to report certain medical/personal information e.g. The Health Act 1937 (Qld) requires medical practitioners to report notifiable diseases and suspected maltreatment of children.

Whenever it is reasonable and practicable, we collect personal information directly from our patients. However when this is not reasonable and practicable we may collect personal information from a number of different sources which may include:

A patient’s relatives or carers (if the patient lacks the mental capacity to provide the information, or in an emergency)

Other health care services or facilities

Other health care professionals

Government departments and agencies

Disclosure
The information may be used or disclosed by a health care professional to gain or provide an overall understanding of all or any aspect of your health, and may be shared between treating doctors and specialists outside the practice. This may occur through referral to other doctors or for medical tests and in the reports and results returned to us following referrals. Your personal information may also be used for future unrelated episodes of care.

The organisations, or types of organisations, to which the medical practice will usually disclose your personal information:

Specialists to whom we refer

Other health professionals

Pharmacies required to dispense pharmaceutical products

Other health care providers or facilities as required to provide care

Medicare and/or your health insurer

Our clinical supervisors and auditors

Our insurers, medical defence organisations and lawyers (for liability indemnity arrangements and to obtain medico-legal opinions).

The Australian Privacy Principles also allow us to disclose your personal information to a “responsible person” (as defined in the Australian Privacy Principles) if you are incapable of giving your consent and the disclosure is necessary for the provision of appropriate care or treatment, or for compassionate reasons. The medical practice will never use or disclose your personal information to third parties for direct marketing purposes.

Disclosure for research and quality assurance activities to improve individual and community health care and practice management, all information in these instances is un-identified. You will be informed when such activities are being conducted and given the opportunity to “opt-out” of any involvement.

Consequences of Not Providing Personal Information

If your decline to provide any requested personal information this organisation may not be able to provide you with quality and continuing care appropriate to your needs. However you will still be entitled to receive full medical treatment.

Access
Subject to the restrictions in the Australian Privacy Principles, you have a right to access the personal information held about you by this organisation. Requests for access can be made by completing a “Request for Access to Patient File” form.
Our organisation will provide you with a reasonable range of choices of how access will be made available, depending on your particular needs.
We are entitled to impose reasonable administrative charges for imposing access. We will not charge a fee for lodging a request for access.

Contact Details For any privacy queries, please contact our privacy officer – Marisa Lenz.