Management of Personal Health Information
Our practice is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your personal health information. Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff.
Your Personal Health Information and your Medical Record may be collected, used and disclosed for communicating relevant information with other treating doctors, specialists or allied health professionals, for disease notification as required by law, for legal related disclosure as required by law (E.G subpoena, court order, suspected child abuse), for research purposes (De-identified, you are not able to be identified from the information given) and for accreditation purposes. If you have any concerns or wish to restrict access to your personal health information please discuss these with your doctor or receptionist. We encourage patients to request their preferred GP when booking appointments.
To provide continuity of care to patients, all doctors have access to records. We also encourage patients to assist us by letting us know if their personal information has changed. (E.G change of address or paperwork regarding guardianship/custody etc) To assist in appropriately tailored care for our patients, we are working towards recording patient’s cultural backgrounds, including self-identifying Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. Please advise reception or your GP, so we can record all relevant information. This will help in the management of your health. We also encourage patients to provide us with the name of an emergency contact person and phone number. Should there be an emergency and we are unable to contact you this person will be phoned.
If you wish to have a copy of the Patient Information Privacy Policy please ask at reception. We abide by the Australian Privacy Principles available at www.privacy.gov.au/health/index.html
Drugs of Addiction Policy
There will be NO scripts for Drugs of Addiction prescribed to patients on their first appointment or at weekend clinics at Victoria Street Clinic. We feel that this an unfair request to place on a doctor that does not know your history. To avoid embarrassment please respect this policy. There is no exception to this policy.
Where drugs of addiction have been prescribed, we encourage you to have regular consultations with your doctor and encourage you to put a plan in place to reduce and cease these medications.
Patients requiring repeat prescriptions will be asked to make an appointment to see their doctors these scripts. Phone request will not be accepted. Please respect our policy. For further information in regard to this policy please speak to your doctor.
Communication with Patients by Electronic Means
Our practice is mindful that even if patients have provided electronic contact details, they may not be proficient in communicating via electronic means and patient consent needs to be obtained before engaging in electronic communication. Electronic communication includes email, facsimile, and Short Message Service (SMS).
Communication with patients via electronic means is conducted with appropriate regard to privacy.
Your rights
If you have a problem, we would like to hear about it. Please feel free to talk to your doctor or reception staff. You may prefer to write to us or use our suggestion box located in the waiting room. We take your concerns, suggestions and complaints seriously. However, if you wish to take the matter further and feel that you need to discuss the matter outside of the surgery there are several options available including:
Health Care Complaints Commission, GPO Box 960, Hobart 7001 - www.healthcomplaints.tas.gov.au - Ph: 03 6166 4566 or Regional Free call number Ph: 1800 001 170.
Human Rights Commission – www.hreoc.gov.au,
Commonwealth Ombudsman – www.combo.gov.au
The National Privacy Commissioner is able to receive complaints concerning privacy issues. Complaints will have a response within 28 days. Privacy hotline 1300 363 992
APPOINTMENTS
Practice Hours: (By Appointment)
- Monday 8:00am-6:00pm
- Tuesday 8:00am-6:30pm
- Wednesday 8:00am-6:00pm
- Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm
- Friday 8:00am-6:00pm
IF THERE IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY PLEASE CALL 000
