Collection of information
The Practice will need to collect personal information as a provision of clinical services to a patient
at the practice. Collected personal information will include patients’:
• names, addresses and contact details
• Medicare number (where available) (for identication and claiming purposes)
• healthcare identiers
• medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events,
immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors.
A patient’s personal information may be held at the Practice in various forms:
• as paper records
• as electronic records
• as visual – x-rays, CT scans, videos and photos
• as audio recordings.
The Practice’s procedure for collecting personal information is set out below.
1. Practice staff collect patients’ personal and demographic information via registration when patients
present to the Practice for the rst time. Patients are encouraged to pay attention to the collection
statement attached to/within the form and information about the management of collected
information and patient privacy.
2. During the course of providing medical services, the Practice’s healthcare practitioners will
consequently collect further personal information.
3. Personal information may also be collected from the patient’s guardian or responsible person
(where practicable and necessary), or from any other involved healthcare specialists.
The Practice holds all personal information securely, whether in electronic format, in protected
information systems or in hard copy format in a secured environment.
Use and disclosure of information
Personal information will only be used for the purpose of providing medical services and for claims and
payments, unless otherwise consented to. Some disclosure may occur to third parties engaged by or
for the Practice for business purposes, such as accreditation or for the provision of information
technology. These third parties are required to comply with this policy. The Practice will inform the patient
where there is a statutory requirement to disclose certain personal information (for example, some
diseases require mandatory notication).
The Practice will not disclose personal information to any third party other than in the course of providing
medical services, without full disclosure to the patient or the recipient, the reason for the information
transfer and full consent from the patient. The Practice will not disclose personal information to anyone
outside Australia without need and without patient consent.
Exceptions to disclose without patient consent are where the information is:
• required by law
• 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 a condential dispute resolution process.
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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners APP privacy policy: Managing patient health information