Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Vecare Health collects, uses, stores and discloses personal information, including health information.

Vecare Health handles personal and health information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW). Access to patient information is limited to authorised team members who require it to perform their duties.

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide patient consent for our GPs and practice staff to access and use your personal information. This access ensures that we can deliver the best possible healthcare while maintaining healthcare privacy. Only staff members who need to review your personal information will have access to it. Should we require your information for any other purpose, we will seek additional consent from you to ensure your personal information protection.

Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you while ensuring healthcare privacy. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding, and sharing your personal information is to manage your health, always with your patient consent. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, and essential business processes (e.g., staff training).

Use of Document-Automation Technology

Vecare Health may use approved clinical software to assist healthcare providers in preparing referrals, letters and other clinical documents. Information may be drawn from the patient’s clinical record and inserted into a draft document.

The treating healthcare provider reviews and approves the document before it is finalised or sent. Only information considered relevant to the purpose of the document should be included.

The information we will collect about you includes your:  

- Names, date of birth, addresses, and contact details  

- Medical information, which includes your medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunizations, social history, family history, and risk factors  

- Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes  

- Healthcare identifiers  

What are patient health records?  

Patient health records contain information about a patient, stored in either paper or electronic form, and relate to healthcare privacy. This data may include:  

• Contact and demographic information  

• Medical history  

• Notes on treatment  

• Observations  

• Correspondence  

• Investigations  

• Test results and photographs  

• Prescription records  

• Medication charts  

• Insurance information  

• Legal information and reports  

• Work health and safety reports  

Protecting personal information involves obtaining patient consent for the use of this data, ensuring the utmost standards are met in healthcare privacy.

Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways to ensure effective healthcare privacy.

When you make your first appointment, our practice staff will gather your personal and demographic information through your registration. As we provide medical services, additional personal information may be collected. Information can also be gathered through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP) and My Health Record, such as via Shared Health Summary or Event Summary. We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, call us, make an online appointment, or engage with us on social media.

In some circumstances, personal information may also be collected from other sources, especially when it is not practical or reasonable to collect it directly from you. 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).

With the patient’s consent, a Vecare Health doctor may use an approved artificial intelligence medical scribe to assist with preparing clinical notes, referrals, letters and other medical documents.

When an AI medical scribe is used, it may temporarily capture and process audio from the consultation to generate a transcript or draft clinical note. The audio is processed only for the purpose of assisting with clinical documentation and is not intended to form part of the patient’s permanent medical record.

The doctor will review, amend where necessary and approve the generated documentation before it is added to the patient’s clinical record. The treating doctor remains responsible for the accuracy, completeness and appropriateness of the final documentation.

Vecare Health will only use AI medical-scribe services that have appropriate privacy, security and data-protection safeguards. The handling, storage, retention and deletion of consultation information may vary between approved providers and will be managed in accordance with the provider’s privacy terms, Vecare Health’s contractual requirements and applicable privacy legislation.

Patient information processed through an AI medical scribe will not be used for unrelated purposes without appropriate authority or consent. Vecare Health will take reasonable steps to ensure that providers do not use identifiable patient information to train general-purpose or external artificial intelligence models.

The patient’s consent will be obtained before an AI medical scribe is used. Patients may decline or withdraw their consent at any time without affecting their access to healthcare or the standard of care they receive.

Vecare Health does not routinely retain audio or video recordings of consultations. Any permanent recording that is separate from the temporary processing required by an AI medical scribe will only occur for a specific purpose and with the patient’s prior consent, unless otherwise authorised or required by law.

We sometimes share your personal information while prioritizing healthcare privacy: 

with third parties who collaborate with our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or information technology providers – these third parties adhere to the APPs and this policy 

with other healthcare providers 

when required or authorized 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 to public health or safety, especially if 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 a 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 eTP, My Health Record (e.g., via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary). Only those who need access to your information will be able to do so. Outside of providing medical services or as noted in this policy, our practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent. 

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

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

Additionally, our practice may use your personal information to enhance the quality of the services we provide to our patients through research and analysis of patient data. 

We may also provide de-identified data to other organizations to improve population health outcomes. This information is secured, ensuring patients cannot be identified, and is stored within Australia. You can inform our reception staff if you prefer not to have your information included.

At our practice, your personal information may be stored in different forms, including paper records, electronic records, visual records such as X-rays, CT scans, videos, and photos, as well as audio recordings. We prioritize healthcare privacy and ensure that all personal information is stored securely. This is achieved through electronic formats protected by secure information systems and hard copy formats maintained in a secured environment. We utilize passwords, secure cabinets, and confidentiality agreements for our staff and contractors to enhance personal information protection.

Our electronic files are securely backed up by our servers both onsite and offsite.

You have the right to engage with us anonymously or under a pseudonym to protect your healthcare privacy, unless it is impracticable for us to do so or we are mandated by law to only interact with identified individuals, ensuring adequate patient consent and personal information protection.

You have the right to request access to and correct your personal information, ensuring your healthcare privacy is maintained.  

Records Access: you may request access to personal information held about you. Requests should be submitted in writing and may require verification of your identity or authority to act on behalf of another person.

Vecare Health will respond within a reasonable period. Access may be provided by electronic copy, printed copy, inspection of the record or another appropriate method.

A reasonable administrative fee may apply to cover the actual costs of locating, reviewing, reproducing or providing the requested information. Any anticipated fee will be explained before access is provided and will not be used to discourage a patient from requesting access.

Access may be refused or limited only where permitted by law. Where access is refused, Vecare Health will provide written reasons and information about available complaint options, where required. 

Records Correction: If you wish to correct your personal information, you can initially make your request over the phone or in person, but you will then be required to submit it in writing. Your written request should describe the information you want to correct, provide the correct information, and include proof that the existing information is inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or out-of-date. Our practice is committed to personal information protection and will take reasonable steps to update your data when necessary. You may also be asked to provide proof of your identity. If you are making a request on behalf of someone else, please ensure it is in writing and contains evidence of your authority to act on their behalf.  

Requests can either be delivered in person to the practice or mailed to 115-117 Albury Street, Holbrook-2644. Our practice will respond to all requests within a reasonable time frame, approximately 30 days.

We take complaints and concerns regarding healthcare privacy seriously. It's important for you to express any privacy concerns related to the protection of your personal information. We will then attempt to resolve these issues according to our resolution procedure, addressing your complaint within 30 days. 

Please direct your complaint to: 

Practice Manager 

Vecare Health 

115-117 Albury Street, Holbrook-2644, NSW.

Please contact Vecare Health first so that we have an opportunity to investigate and respond to your concern. If you are not satisfied with our response, or we have not responded within 30 days, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

For further information, visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC at 1300 363 992, or reach out to the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) at Telephone: (02) 9219 7444 / 1800 043 159 (Toll-Free in NSW), Web: www.hccc.nsw.gov.au.

We strive to ensure our website is as secure as possible; however, users must recognize that the world wide web is not inherently a secure medium. No data, including personal information, or its transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be free from interception. We cannot assure that any details you communicate to us online will not be intercepted during transmission. Consequently, any information, whether personal or otherwise, that you transmit to us online is done at your own risk, emphasizing the importance of healthcare privacy and patient consent in our interactions.  

Our practice and its associates hold no liability for any interference or damage to a user’s computer system, software, or data from our website. We strongly recommend that users adopt appropriate measures to safeguard their computer systems against third-party interference on the web. Furthermore, our privacy policy specifically applies to our website.  

Our site contains links to other websites. If you choose to click a link to another website, we encourage you to read their privacy policy as well. Recommendations or opinions on these outside sites do not necessarily reflect those of our practice and its associates.  

This site utilizes cookies to enhance your interaction with your browser. A cookie is a small piece of information stored on your computer by our website. You can delete cookies from your hard drive at any time, and further details on the use of cookies can be found at www.cookiecentral.com/faq.  

For users of Automed, their privacy statement can be found here: https://automedsystems.com.au/privacy/

We will regularly review this privacy policy to ensure it complies with any changes and upholds healthcare privacy standards, particularly regarding patient consent and personal information protection. A copy of the updated statements will be prominently displayed in our waiting area. 

Last Review: July 2026.