Macquarie Neurosurgery Patient Privacy policy
Current as of: 29th September 2022
Macquarie Neurosurgery is committed to protecting the privacy of patient information and to handling your personal information in a responsible manner. This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our practice, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties.
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our specialists 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.
Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?
Our practice will need 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.
What personal information do we collect?
The information we will collect about you includes your:
- names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
- medical information including medical history, tests results, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
- Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
- Private health insurance cover and eligibility for benefits or compensation from another source (such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or, for foreign visitors, insurers based overseas).
- GP contact details.
Dealing with us anonymously
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 authorized by law to only deal with identified individuals.
How do we collect your personal information?
Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.
- When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
- During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.
- We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, or make an online appointment.
- In some circumstances personal information may also be collected from other sources. Often this is because it is not practical or reasonable to collect it from you directly. This may include information from:
- your guardian or responsible person
- other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
- your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).
When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?
Macquarie Neurosurgery may share your personal information:
- with third parties who work with our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or information technology providers – these third parties are required to comply with APPs and this policy
- with other healthcare providers
- when it is required or authorised by law (e.g., court subpoenas)
- when it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety
- to assist in locating a missing person
- to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
- for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
- when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g., some diseases require mandatory 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 otherwise described in this policy, our practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent.
Macquarie Neurosurgery will not transfer your personal information to an overseas recipient unless we have your consent or we are required to do so by law. We do not sell, rent or lease information provided through website mechanisms to third parties.
Our practice may use your personal information to improve the quality of the services we offer to our patients through research and analysis of our patient data.
We may provide de-identified data to other organizations to improve population health outcomes. The information is secure, patients cannot be identified, and the information is stored within Australia. You can let our reception staff know if you do not want your information included.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
At Macquarie Neurosurgery, personal information is primarily collected and held in electronic form. Information may also be collected and held in paper-based documents (such as patient registration or administrative forms). We maintain strict policies regarding who has authority to access your personal information. Our neurosurgeons and other medical teams are required to comply with professional codes of conduct regarding the confidentiality of patient information. We educate and supervise staff to ensure information is handled in accordance with this privacy policy and privacy laws, and with respect and care.
Macquarie Neurosurgery uses state of the art technology to securely collect, hold and, where relevant, share your records, reports and images.
In order to provide you with continuing care when you need it, if your health information is collected by Macquarie Neurosurgery and held in its electronic patient record database, it will be accessible by your treating neurosurgeon, including from remote locations (such as your specialist’s consulting rooms). Security measures have been implemented by MQ Health, partnering with Macquarie Neurosurgery, to protect this access to its electronic patient records including password protection and system monitoring.
How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.
Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing at admin@mqneurosurgery.com and our practice will respond within 30 days.
Macquarie Neurosurgery will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. From time to time, we will ask you to verify that your personal information held by our practice is correct and current. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing to admin@mqneurosurgery.com.
How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled?
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. Any privacy concerns you may have should be expressed in writing. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure.
Contact us at admin@mqneurosurgery.com or call 02 9812 3900 first if you wish to lodge a complaint.
Should you be dissatisfied with our handling of the complaint, you may also contact the OAIC. Generally, the OAIC will require you to give them time to respond before they will investigate. For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 363 992.
Privacy and our website
Macquarie Neurosurgery will take the relevant actions to secure any personally identifiable information you provide through your access and use of the website in a controlled and secure environment and use technologies such as firewalls and encryption (SSL protocol) to protect the privacy of your personal information and prevent it from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or alteration.
The Macquarie Neurosurgery website contains links to other websites (linked websites). We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices employed by any linked website.
Policy review statement
This privacy policy is reviewed and amended from time-to-time. Revisions and updates to this privacy policy will be published on this website.
