Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Introduction

We are committed to providing comprehensive, quality care to all individuals and families who attend our Practice. 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 GP’s 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.

Definition of a patient health record

RACGP defines a patient health record as "information, held about a patient, in paper or electronic form, which may include:

  • Contact and demographic information
  • Medical history
  • Notes on treatment
  • Observations
  • Correspondence
  • Investigations
  • Test results
  • Photographs
  • Prescription records
  • Medication charts
  • Insurance information
  • Legal information and reports
  • Work health and safety reports"

Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?

Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide high quality 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.

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, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
  • Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
  • healthcare identifiers
  • health fund 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 authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.

How and when do we collect your personal information?

Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.

  1. When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
  2. During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information (e.g. electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP), My Health Record (Shared Health Summary, Event Summary)).
  3. We also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social media.
  4. 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?

In order to provide the highest quality of care for our patients we may be required to share your information. 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.

We sometimes 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 APP’s 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, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent
  • 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)
  • during the course of providing medical services, through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP), My Health Record (e.g. via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary)
  • de-identified data to parties like the Primary Health Networks (PHN) for the purpose of quality improvement.

We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.

Our practice will not use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing.

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 organisations 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.

Our clinical software allows the practice to ensure that only relevant information from your medical record is included within referral letters to other health professionals or third parties.

How do we store and protect your personal information?

Our patient records are maintained in electronic format on a secure on-site computer system. The information recorded is protected by an individual password system and is accessible only to authorised personnel. Paper based information is converted to electronic format and is destroyed by shredding when no longer required.

Our staff are bound by a strict legal duty of confidentiality. It is an offence for our staff to give information about you to anyone except under limited circumstances set out in legislation. We maintain strict security policies and practices with respect to who has access to personal information about you.

Consent is obtained for real time audio/visual recording, duplication, and storage of a consultation, including those via telehealth or those conducted remotely.

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. Any request to access personal information must made be in writing to the practice via email or in person.

If personal information is provided to you as the result of a request, you will be charged a fee for costs incurred in providing that information such as photocopying, the administration time involved in processing your request, and postage. Please seek advice from our reception staff regarding fee’s associated with receiving personal records.

There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold; however, we will only do so in accordance with our rights and obligations under the Privacy Act. For example, we may need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of others or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality. If that happens, we will give you written reasons for any refusal.

Our practice 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. Any requests to correct or update personal information may be made in person or in writing to the practice.

How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will your complaint be handled at our practice?

We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing and address it to the Practice Manager. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure and endeavor to respond to within 14 days. Our contact details are:

ADDRESS:         The Butterfly Clinic

Spring Hill Marketplace, Level 1, 375 Turbot Street, Spring Hill QLD 4000

PHONE:            07 2111 3066

FAX:                  07 2111 3077

EMAIL:              info@thebutterflyclinic.com.au

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

Please note that our website uses 'cookies'. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer's hard disk for record-keeping purposes, website usage statistics or to provide enhanced functionality on the site. Our cookies may do some or all of these depending on the particular page and its functionality. Generally, the information obtained by cookies is de-identified and does not constitute personal information but may include the IP address of your computer.

You are ultimately in control of your browser’s dealings with cookies. Most browsers are by default set to accept cookies but have the capacity to block or delete them. However, if you do not wish to receive any cookies you should set your browser to refuse cookies. In some instances, this may mean you will not be able to take full advantage of parts of our website. By using our website, you accept the use and installation of these cookies to provide you with these services.

Personal information collected through our website runs directly through AutoMed, Cubiko and/or Health Engine and is electronically stored directly into our practice software. This information is kept private and is not displayed anywhere public. To view how AutoMed, Cubiko and Health Engine utilize your private information, please visit their respective websites: www.automedsystems.com.au / www.cubiko.com.au / www.healthengine.com.au.

Policy review statement

This Privacy Policy is current as of November 2023 and is reviewed annually. From time to time, we may make changes to our policy, processes, and systems in relation to how we handle your personal information. Any changes made to our policy will be made available on our website and at our practice.

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This web site is owned and operated by THE BUTTERFLY CLINIC and will be referred to as "We", "our" and "us" in this Internet Privacy Policy. By using this site, you agree to the Internet Privacy Policy of this web site ("the web site"), which is set out on this web site page. The Internet Privacy Policy relates to the collection and use of personal information you may supply to us through your conduct on the web site.

We reserve the right, at our discretion, to modify or remove portions of this Internet Privacy Policy at any time. This Internet Privacy Policy is in addition to any other terms and conditions applicable to the web site. We do not make any representations about third party web sites that may be linked to the web site.

We recognise the importance of protecting the privacy of information collected about visitors to our web site, in particular information that is capable of identifying an individual ("personal information"). This Internet Privacy Policy governs the manner in which your personal information, obtained through the web site, will be dealt with. This Internet Privacy Policy should be reviewed periodically so that you are updated on any changes. We welcome your comments and feedback.

1. Personal Information

Personal information about visitors to our site is collected only when knowingly and voluntarily submitted. For example, we may need to collect such information to provide you with further services or to answer or forward any requests or enquiries. It is our intention that this policy will protect your personal information from being dealt with in any way that is inconsistent with applicable privacy laws in Australia.

2. Use of Information

Personal information that visitors submit to our site is used only for the purpose for which it is submitted or for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose, unless we disclose other uses in this Internet Privacy Policy or at the time of collection. Copies of correspondence sent from the web site, that may contain personal information, are stored as archives for record-keeping and back-up purposes only.

3. Collecting information on Registered members

As part of registering with us, we collect personal information about you in order for you to take full advantage of our services. To do this it may be necessary for you to provide additional information to us as detailed below.

4. Registration

Registration is completely optional. Registration may include submitting your name, email address, address, telephone numbers, option on receiving updates and promotional material and other information. You may access this information at any time by logging in and going to your account.

5. Security

We strive to ensure the security, integrity and privacy of personal information submitted to our sites, and we review and update our security measures in light of current technologies. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure.

However, we will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information you may transmit to us or from our online products and services. Once we do receive your transmission, we will also make our best efforts to ensure its security on our systems.

In addition, our employees and the contractors who provide services related to our information systems are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us. However, we will not be held responsible for events arising from unauthorised access to your personal information.

6. IP Addresses

Our web servers gather your IP address to assist with the diagnosis of problems or support issues with our services. Again, information is gathered in aggregate only and cannot be traced to an individual user.

7. Cookies and Applets

We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. These cookies allow us to increase your security by storing your session ID and are a way of monitoring single user access.

This aggregate, non-personal information is collated and provided to us to assist in analysing the usage of the site. This website uses features to target advertising to people based on Google Analytics and other data. This allows us to display ads that relate to products and services you have viewed on our website as you browse other sites on the Google Display Network. These ads are displayed using a combination of 1st and 3rd party cookies. If you would like to opt-out of customised Google Display Network ads you can using the Ads Preferences Manager (https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/). You can also use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/) so you are not tracked into Google Analytics.

  • Cookies are used on this website to record user-specific information.
  • We do not trade or sell any information that is volunteered or logged.
  • We have appropriate security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information.
  • When we use third parties to provide us with supplementary business services we ensure that they adhere to strict security and privacy standards.

From time to time, we may use collected information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in this privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future we will post the policy changes to our website.

8. Access to Information

We will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to keep secure any information which we hold about you, and to keep this information accurate and up to date. If, at any time, you discover that information held about you is incorrect, you may contact us to have the information corrected.

In addition, our employees and the contractors who provide services related to our information systems are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us.

9. Links to other sites

We provide links to Web sites outside of our web sites, as well as to third party Web sites. These linked sites are not under our control, and we cannot accept responsibility for the conduct of companies linked to our website. Before disclosing your personal information on any other website, we advise you to examine the terms and conditions of using that Web site and its privacy statement.

10. Problems or questions

If we become aware of any ongoing concerns or problems with our web sites, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. If you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact us.

For more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner's web site; http://www.privacy.gov.au/.