Privacy Policy

This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (including your health information) is collected and used within our Clinic and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties. 

Vecare Health is required to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), and handles the personal information (including health information) that collects and holds in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act. 

Vecare Health must also handle health information it collects and holds in compliance with applicable State and Territory based health records laws. 

Vecare Health is committed to the protection of personal and health information in accordance with these privacy laws in the provision of its integrated health services through the medical centres it operates and manages. 

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for GPs and Clinic staff working in the Clinic to access and use your personal information so they can give you the best possible healthcare. The only team who needs 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.  

Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. Our primary purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health. We also use it for related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, clinical audits and accreditation, and business processes (e.g. staff training). 

What is personal information? 

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether that information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. 

Sensitive information is a type of personal information that is afforded a higher level of protection by privacy laws. It includes health, genetic and biometric information as well as information about race or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of political, professional or trade associations or trade unions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or practices and criminal record. 

References in this policy to personal information include sensitive information. 

 Where it is lawful and practicable to do so, individuals may deal with us anonymously or use a pseudonym (e.g. when enquiring about our services generally). However, in many instances we need to identify you when you deal with us, including to provide our services and to respond to complaints. If we do not receive all of the personal information we request, we may not be able to do these things. 

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 

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

1. Our clinic staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration when you make your first appointment.   
2. During providing medical services, we may collect further personal information. 
3. Your information can also collect information through electronic transfer of prescriptions (eTP), My Health Record, e.g. Shared Health Summary, Event Summary.   
4. 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.  
5. Your personal information may also be collected from other sources in some circumstances. For example, 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  
• Medicare or the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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 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, 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 confidential dispute resolution process   
• Due to the Statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g. some diseases require mandatory notification) while providing medical services through eTP, My Health Record (e.g., Shared Health Summary).

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 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 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 by notifying our practice in writing.    

Our clinic stores all personal information securely in electronic format, in secure information systems. Our practice uses passwords and confidentiality agreements for staff and contractors.  

You have the right to request access to and correct your personal information. Our Clinic acknowledges that patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to submit this request by signing our form, and our practice will respond within 30 days. There may be a fee associated with providing this information.  

If you make your request to access or correct your personal information over the phone or in person, you will be asked to put your request in writing. You may also be asked to provide proof of your identity.

If you are making a request on behalf of another person, your request must be made in writing, and must include evidence of your authority to act on the other person's behalf.

It should be provided either by in person to the practice, or by post 115-117 Albury Street, Holbrook-2640.  Your request should include:-

• Your full name, address and date of birth.
• For access requests: a description of the information you're requesting and whether you require a summary, a full copy or if you want to view your records in person.
• For correction requests: a description of the information you want to correct, the correct information and proof the existing information is inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or out-of-date. 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 data held by our practice is correct and current. 

Your request should be marked to the attention of:  

Practice Manager

Vecare Health

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

Our practice will respond to all requests within a reasonable time, (approximately 30 days). 

We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. It would help if you expressed any privacy concerns you may have. We will then attempt to resolve them following our resolution procedure. We will address this within 30 days of your complaint.  

Please address your complaint to:

Practice Manager

Vecare Health

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

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 

or contact 

Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), Telephone: (02) 9219 7444 / 1800 043 159 (Toll-Free in NSW), Web: www.hccc.nsw.gov.au.  

 We endeavour to ensure our website is as secure as possible; however, users need to be aware that the world wide web is not a secure medium. No data or transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be secure.  We cannot guarantee that any information you communicate to us online will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet.  Any information, (personal or otherwise) which you transmit to us online is transmitted at your own risk. 

Our Practice and its associates take no liability for any interference or damage to a user’s computer system, software or data occurring with our website. We strongly recommend that users take appropriate measures to ensure their computer is protected against third-party interference on the web. Our privacy policy applies only to our website. 

Our website contains links to other websites. If you click a link to another website, you should also read the privacy policy for that site. Recommendations or views on these websites are not necessarily reflective of those of our practice and it's associates.  

This site uses cookies as a part of our interaction with your browser. A cookie is a small amount of information stored on your computer by our website. You can delete cookies from your hard drive at any time, and you can find further details on the use of cookies at www.cookiecentral.com/faq. 

Our practice does not collect any personal information via our website.

We will review this privacy policy regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. A copy of new statements will be prominently displayed in our waiting area. 

Last Review : 25th Aug 2024.