Privacy Policy

Adelaide Womens Health Collaborative ACN 656 070 263 (and our collaborative partners, Adelaide Mums and Babies ABN 99 434 852 992 & Womankind Health ABN 53 628 254 213, who support and provide services for clinicians whom these polices are also enforced for, us, we, our) maintain a strict policy of confidence concerning your personal information, and is committed to maintaining the privacy and the security of the personal information that we process.

This Privacy Policy (Policy) has been developed in consideration of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and outlines how we collect, use, store and disclose the personal information we process in the course of providing services to you. By accessing our website www.awhc.net.au (site), www.mumsandbabies.com.au (site) or www.womankindhealth.com.au (site) and using our services, you consent your personal information being used in accordance with this Policy.

This Policy applies to information provided to us by any other means. By using our services or site, you consent and accept to the terms of this Policy for which your personal information will be processed in accordance with.

If you have any questions or require any further information about this Policy or our privacy information practices, you can contact our Privacy Officer (contact details available at the end of this Policy).

  1. Introduction:

Our practice is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect. This practice has developed a policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with the aforementioned legislations and principles. Our policy is to inform you of:

  • the kinds of information that we collect and hold, which, as a medical practice, is likely to be ‘health information’ for the purposes of the Privacy Act;
  • how we collect and hold personal information;
  • the purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information;
  • how you may access your personal information and seek the correction of that information;
  • how you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with such a complaint;
  • whether we are likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients.
  1. What kinds of personal information do we collect?

 The type of information we may collect and hold includes:

  • Your name, title, address, date of birth, email and contact details
  • Medicare number, DVA number and other government identifiers, although we will not use these for the purposes of identifying you in our practice
  • Other health information about you, including:
    • notes of your symptoms or diagnosis and the treatment given to you
    • your specialist reports and test results
    • your appointment and billing details
    • your prescriptions and other pharmaceutical purchases
    • your genetic information
    • your healthcare identifier
    • any other information about your race, sexuality or religion, when collected by a health service provider.
  1. How do we collect and hold personal information?

We will generally collect personal information:

  • from you directly when you provide your details to us. This might be via a face to face discussion, telephone conversation, registration form or online form
  • from a person responsible for you
  • from third parties where the Privacy Act or other law allows it – this may include, but is not limited to: other members of your treating team, diagnostic centres, hospitals, electronic prescription services, Medicare, your health insurer, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, pathology services, radiology services, allied health professionals or other specialists involved in your care.
  • Your information may be communicated to the Australian Government Department of Human Services or another third-party billing agent for assessment and administration of payments in order to pay or process your application/claim for Medicare, Health Fund or Third Party (eg ADF Health Services Contract) account payments. With your consent, staff will process this claim on your behalf electronically.
  1. Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?

In general, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

  • to provide health services to you
  • to communicate with you in relation to the health service being provided to you
  • to comply with our legal obligations, including, but not limited to, mandatory notification of communicable diseases or mandatory reporting under applicable child protection legislation.
  • to help us manage our accounts and administrative services, including billing, arrangements with health funds, pursuing unpaid accounts, management of our IT systems
  • for consultations with other doctors and allied health professional involved in your healthcare;
  • to obtain, analyse and discuss test results from diagnostic and pathology laboratories
  • for identification and insurance claiming
  • Information can also be disclosed through an electronic transfer of prescriptions service.
  • To liaise with your health fund, government and regulatory bodies such as Medicare, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) (if you make a privacy complaint to the OAIC), as necessary.
  1. How can you access and correct your personal information?

You have the right under the Act to seek access to your personal information held by us, and we take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information held by us is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading. If you want to access your personal information, or if you believe that it is incorrect, incomplete or out of date, please contact us in writing (see please our practice contact details as noted below under ‘Contact Details’).

We will respond to any such request within a reasonable period and we will grant access provided the request does not fall under one of the exceptions to access stated in the APPs.

We may charge a reasonable fee for providing that information. Access may be denied in certain circumstances permitted under the Act (such as where the request creates a serious threat to the life or safety or is otherwise unlawful).

  1. How do we hold your personal information?

Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes:

  • Holding your information on an encrypted database
  • Holding your information in secure cloud storage (which is encrypted and maintained in domestic and overseas cloud servers as per the requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles)
  • Holding your information in a lockable cabinet where maintained in hardcopy
  • Our staff sign confidentiality agreements
  • Our practice has document retention and destruction policies, including sanitization and sentencing as per the AMA recommended procedures for files and data inclusive of deidentification and secure accredited shredding
  1. Privacy related questions and complaints

If you have any questions about privacy-related issues or wish to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles or the handling of your personal information by us, you may lodge your complaint in writing to (see below for details). We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the OAIC:

Phone: 1300 363 992

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

Fax: +61 2 9284 9666

Post: GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001

Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/how-do-i-make-a-privacy-complaint

  1. Anonymity and pseudonyms

The Privacy Act provides that individuals must have the option of not identifying themselves, or of using a pseudonym, when dealing with our practice, except in certain circumstances, such as where it is impracticable for us to deal with you if you have not identified yourself. Patient seeking certain treatments may be prepared to forego notifying their insurer or seeking a Medicare benefit and pay us directly if unwilling to identify yourselves.

  1. Overseas disclosure

 We may disclose your personal information to the following overseas recipients:

  • any practice or individual who assists us in providing services (such as where you have come from overseas and had your health record transferred from overseas or have treatment continuing from an overseas provider
  • overseas based cloud storage which remains encrypted from the point of origin to return
  • anyone else to whom you authorise us to disclose it

As part of our communication to you, forms and other data may be transferred from our email servers to yours which may not reside in Australia. We will seek to keep this data encrypted and secured where possible to support your privacy.

  1. Updates to this Policy

This Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and other necessary developments. Updates will be publicised on the practice’s website.

  1. Privacy and websites

This policy is available from our website. Our website may also collect other data from you in the form of “Cookies”. “Cookies” are small data files that may be downloaded to your computer when you visit a website, which may be used to track your use of that website. Cookies must be enabled in order to use web-based software products offered by us and may be used to provide users of your computer with information that we think may interest the users of your computer.

We may use cookies from time to time to:

  • track your usage of our software products;
  • improve your experience on our software products;
  • provide you with better service when you use our software products;
  • recognise you when you return to our software products.

This information may be linked to any personal information you may provide and may be used to identify you. You can adjust your internet browser to disable or warn you when cookies are used. However, disabling cookies will stop our software products from functioning fully.

  1. Contact details for privacy related issues

If you want to make a complaint about our management of personal information, to correct information or request further information, please contact us. Our Privacy Officer will contact you about your complaint as soon as reasonably practicable and we will attempt to resolve it with you. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by contacting 1300 363 992 or by visiting the website www.oaic.gov.au. Further information about the Act and the APPs is also available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

The Privacy Officer for Issues is our Practice Manager who is supported by our Business Manager as required. They can be contacted on email to hello@awhc.com.au or 08 8166 4381 or via mail on page 1 of this document.

When seeking a copy of your records, a standard fee may be for the access and provision of your records. The request form is available by contacting our staff on the details above.

  1. Forms of Communication

This practice utilises a number of forms of communication including SMS, phone calls, email and general post.

All data maintained will be kept in a form that is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you believe your records are inaccurate, or your personal information or circumstances change please update with our practice manager.

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Adelaide Mums and Babies Clinic acknowledge the traditional owners of this land and pay our respects to their elders both past, present and emerging. We acknowledge and uphold their continuing relationship to this land, the land of the Kaurna and Peramangk people.

Adelaide Mums and Babies Clinic is committed to providing an inclusive service, and environment where individuals feel accepted, safe, affirmed and celebrated. Adelaide Mums and Babies Clinic is committed to equity irrespective of cultural or linguistic background, sexual orientation, gender identity (LGBTQIA+), intersex status, religion or spiritual beliefs, socio-economic status, age, or abilities.