PRIVACY STATEMENT
Information is called “Personal Health Information” if it concerns your health, medical history, past or future medical care and if someone reading it would be able to identify you.
This practice follows the “Privacy and managing health information in general practice” developed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
This means that Cranbrook Medical has a fundamental role in ensuring the privacy of all patient information. The approach used in the Code is consistent with the provisions of Federal & State Privacy Legislation. This practice has a written policy on personal health information, which is available for you to read – see reception.
The following information aims to explain clearly how personal information about you & your health is recorded & managed in this practice.
Registering as a patient at our practice also means providing consent for our doctors and practice staff to access and use personal information in order to provide the best possible healthcare. If a patient’s information is needed for any other purpose, we seek additional consent from the patient to do this.
If you have any concerns about this, please discuss them with your Doctor.
How is your Personal Health Information used in this practice?
At Cranbrook Medical personal health information is used to provide quality care for all our patients. The information is also used to provide referrals to other health professionals involved in your health care (eg. specialists, dieticians, physiotherapists etc.). After discussion with you, your Doctor will write a letter to the relevant Health Care Provider. This referral will be emailed or electronically faxed secured with a pin code. The referral may also be given to you to take to them.
More reasons your health information is collected is to send you recall letters and SMS for review of results and reminders for follow ups, to request medical tests (eg x-ray, blood tests etc.) and for billing purposes.
For quality assurance, research & training purposes – you would be notified of any plans to do this & further consent would need to be obtained.
Your Doctor will not disclose your Personal Health Information to a third party unless:
You have consented to the disclosure or the disclosure is necessary because you are at risk of harm without treatment and you are unable to give consent (eg. you might be unconscious after an accident);
Your doctor is legally obliged to disclose the information (eg.notification of certain infectious diseases or suspected child abuse, or a subpoena;
The information is necessary to obtain for Medicare payments or other insurance rebates;
There is an overriding public interest in the release of the information.
Accessing patient Health Information?
My Health Record is a secure online summary of an individual’s health information and is available to all Australians. Healthcare providers authorised by their healthcare organisation can access My Health Record to view and add patient health information. Through the My Health Record system you can access timely information about your patients such as shared health summaries, discharge summaries, prescription and dispense records, pathology and diagnostic imaging reports, and immunisation information.
January 2021 – Last updated July 2022