Privacy Policy

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our GPs and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Only staff who need to see your personal information will have access to it. If we need to use your information for anything else, we will seek additional consent from you to do this.

Our practice needs to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, and business processes such as staff training.

The information we collect about you may include your name, date of birth, address and contact details; your medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors; your Medicare number, where available, for identification and claiming purposes; your healthcare identifiers; and your health fund details.

You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to do so, or unless we are required or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.

We collect your personal and demographic information when you make your first appointment, and may collect further information during the course of providing medical services. Information can also be collected electronically, for example through the Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions or the My Health Record system. We may also collect information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online booking, or contact us via social media.

In some circumstances information may also be collected from other sources, such as your guardian or responsible person, other healthcare providers involved in your care, or your health fund, Medicare or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, where it is not practical to collect it from you directly.

We sometimes share your personal information with other healthcare providers involved in your care, including via secure clinical messaging such as Medical Objects; with third parties who work with our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or IT providers, who are required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles and this policy; when required or authorised by law, for example a court subpoena; when necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a person’s life, health or safety; to assist in locating a missing person; for a confidential dispute resolution process; or where there is a statutory requirement, such as mandatory disease notification.

Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than in the course of providing medical services, or as described in this policy, we will not share your personal information with any third party without your consent, and we will not share it with anyone outside Australia without your consent unless permitted by law. We will not use your personal information to market our goods or services to you directly without your express consent, and you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying us in writing.

Your personal information is held securely, principally as electronic records in our clinical information system. Protections include individual password-protected logins with role-based access, automatic screen locking, up-to-date malware and network protections, secure and regularly tested backups, signed confidentiality agreements for all staff and contractors, and physical security of our premises and records. Access to the My Health Record system is limited to authorised, trained staff for the purpose of your healthcare.

In the unlikely event of a data breach involving your personal information, we will respond in accordance with our data breach response plan and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act 1988, including notifying you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where the law requires it.

You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. Please put your request in writing, and we will respond within a reasonable time. We will take reasonable steps to correct your information where it is not accurate or up to date, and from time to time we will ask you to verify that the information we hold about you is correct and current.

We take complaints and concerns about privacy seriously. Please put any privacy concerns in writing, addressed to our Practice Manager (Privacy Officer) at the address below, or by email to surfersreception@mydoctorsclinic.com.au. We will acknowledge your complaint within two business days and aim to resolve it, ordinarily within thirty days. Raising a privacy concern will never disadvantage your care.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in writing – phone 1300 363 992, or visit www.oaic.gov.au. For a complaint about our health service more broadly, you may also contact the Office of the Health Ombudsman (Queensland) on 133 646, or visit www.oho.qld.gov.au.

My Doctors Clinic Surfers Paradise, 16/3221 Surfers Paradise Boulevard, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217. Phone 07 5592 2299. Email surfersreception@mydoctorsclinic.com.au.

This privacy policy is reviewed regularly to ensure it remains in accordance with any changes that may occur. Notification of any amendment to this policy is displayed at reception and published on this website.