Information Handling Procedures-updated March 2018

North Coast Surgical Suite (NCSS) is committed to providing quality health care for all patients.  As a fundamental part of this commitment NCSS directors and staff recognise the importance of ensuring that our patients are fully informed and involved in their health care.

This practice is, as a health provider in the private sector, bound by the Australian Privacy Principles.  These principles set the standards by which we handle personal information collected from our patients.  

As a part of our commitment to providing quality health care it is necessary for us to maintain files pertaining to your health. All files in this practice are stored electronically using a specialized medical practice software package.  The files contain the following types of information:

• Personal details (your name, address, date of birth, Medicare number);
• Your medical history;
• Notes made during the course of medical consultations;
• Copies of referrals to and from other health service providers;
• Results and reports received from other health service providers.

The information held about you is provided by you or arises as a consequence of information provided by you, for example to your referring doctor. Due to the nature of the services provided by NCSS and the doctors who practice there it is not practical to deal with unidentified individuals or those using a pseudonym.  All the information stored by NCSS about you is necessary in order to provide optimal care for all patients.

Your medical file is handled with the utmost respect for your privacy.  The file will be accessed by your medical practitioner, and when necessary, for example in the absence of your usual medical practitioner, by other medical practitioners in the practice.  It may also be necessary for our staff to handle your file from time to time to address the administrative requirements of running a medical practice.  Our staff are bound by strict confidentiality requirements as a condition of employment and these requirements will be observed if it is necessary for them to view your records.

At times, to ensure the function of our practice, it may also be necessary to allow external organisations to access our practice and possibly, to view the medical records.  Any external organisation that provides service or advice to this practice will be aware of the need to preserve the requirement of the Privacy Act and will be bound by a confidentiality agreement.

NCSS does not send any patient details off-shore. Our typing is 'in-house' and our back-up is not cloud based. 

Ordinarily we will not release the contents of your medical file without your consent.  However, we advise that there may be occasions where we will be required to release the details of your file irrespective of whether your consent to the disclosure of the information is given.  This will occur where the law requires disclosure, such as pursuant to a subpoena.

By attending this practice and agreeing to further tests or further referrals, consent is implied to allow for the provision of sufficient personal and health details to allow for optimal medical management by subsequent testing and/or treating health providers.  In addition, unless specifically requested to the contrary, a letter is routinely sent back to the referring Doctor after each consultation.  This practice uses Australia Post, facsimile and secure (encrypted) email to communicate with other health providers.  At times it is also necessary to use standard email to communicate and our practice is to obtain your consent prior to doing this.

We advise that as a patient of this practice you have rights of access to any information we hold concerning you. Should you wish to access this information we refer you to the section entitled “ACCESSING YOUR MEDICAL RECORD”.  If an individual believes that incorrect information is held about them they are invited to notify the practice manager in writing and an appointment will be made to discuss the issue and resolve it within the directives of APP13. 

As part of our commitment to preserving the confidentiality of the information contained in your medical record we advise that strict secure storage policies are observed in this practice.  Your electronic records are accessible only by staff of this practice and are protected by a security password.  Each member of staff is well versed in the principles and importance of doctor–patient confidentiality.

Should you, at any time, have a query or complaint in relation to the privacy policies in place at this practice, please contact the Practice Manager who will be happy to address any concerns you may have.  We advise that it is the practice’s policy that any complaint is required to be made in writing and addressed to The Practice Manager and marked private and confidential.  We advise that we will make our best endeavor to address complaints within 60 days of receipt of your complaint.

North Coast Surgical Suite.

This advice has been prepared by the AMA (NSW) Limited. January 2002 and modified by NCSS March 2018