Privacy Policy
Melb Gastroenterology Pty Ltd ACN 693 530 415 as trustee for the Gastroenterology Trust, trading as Gastro Practice Melbourne (Gastro Practice Melbourne), and Dr Anke Nguyen (Doctor) take privacy seriously and are committed to protecting your privacy.
This Doctor Privacy Policy explains how Gastro Practice Melbourne and the Doctor collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information and health information.
Gastro Practice Melbourne and the Doctor are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and, where applicable, the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).
By contacting Gastro Practice Melbourne, scheduling an appointment with, or having a consultation or procedure with the Doctor, or completing any referral, registration, request appointment or other online form in connection with the services, you consent to Gastro Practice Melbourne and the Doctor collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this Doctor Privacy Policy.
This Doctor Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time. You will be notified of important changes and provided with a prominent link to those changes for a reasonable length of time following the changes. You consent to any amendments to this Doctor Privacy Policy by continuing to use the services. Please ensure you regularly check Gastro Practice Melbourne's website for updates to this Doctor Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about your personal information, would like to request access to or correction of your personal information, or wish to make a privacy complaint, please contact:
Personal Information Collection, Use and Disclosure
This Doctor Privacy Policy relates to all information supplied by you, or another person on your behalf, to the Doctor, including:
- Contact information: your name, position, role, company or organisation, telephone number, email address, postal address and emergency contact details;
- Communications: information provided in communications with Gastro Practice Melbourne or the Doctor, including when you book, request or enquire about an appointment, procedure or telehealth consultation;
- Financial information: the Doctor or Gastro Practice Melbourne may obtain your payment details, bank account details or third party payer details, for example when taking payment for an appointment, procedure, deposit, or late or cancellation fee;
- Medical information: the Doctor or Gastro Practice Melbourne may collect information about your health and medical history for the purpose of your consultation and to process payment and rebates, for example through HICAPS and Medicare;
- Technical information: when you access Gastro Practice Melbourne's website and technology services, including IP address, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, device type, hardware model, MAC address, unique identifiers and mobile network information;
- Online data: when you access Gastro Practice Melbourne's website, app and technology services, information about your visit including URL clickstream to, through and from Gastro Practice Melbourne's website, information about your network such as information about devices, nodes, configurations, connection speeds and network application performance, pages viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits and interaction information such as scrolling, clicks and mouse-overs, and whether you click on particular links or open emails from the Doctor or Gastro Practice Melbourne;
- Medicare number: your Medicare number, in circumstances where it is necessary to liaise with Services Australia; and
- Referral and uploaded information: information contained in referral forms, patient registration forms, request appointment forms and other online forms, including referral letters, procedure reports, pathology results, imaging and other health information uploaded by you, your GP or another referrer.
Personal information may be received directly from you or from third parties who assist with the Doctor's or Gastro Practice Melbourne's legal obligations. This information may be exchanged over the phone, by email, SMS, in person, or through any other form of written communication. Personal information may also be obtained about you from a healthcare professional such as your treating GP or specialist doctor.
If you send the Doctor an email containing personal information, all reasonable endeavours will be used to preserve the confidentiality of that information. The Doctor's internet host and Gastro Practice Melbourne may monitor emails sent to the Doctor for maintenance, service provision and fault detection purposes. Emails may also be monitored to ensure compliance with legal obligations. The Doctor may forward emails to Gastro Practice Melbourne or other third parties where the email contains feedback or complaints, or to assist with management of the practice. Email is not a secure method of communication. If you are concerned about sending your personal information by email, you should consider contacting the Doctor in person, by alternative written means or by telephone.
Personal information is not collected about your online activities across third party websites or online services.
The information you provide to the Doctor, or to Gastro Practice Melbourne on the Doctor's behalf, will not be made available to other doctors, staff of Gastro Practice Melbourne or interested parties except:
- with your written consent, unless consent is not required by law; or
- in accordance with this Doctor Privacy Policy.
If you do not wish to provide your personal information, you do not have to do so. However, this may affect the Doctor's ability to treat you or see you for a consultation.
How Your Personal Information Is Used
Your personal information is used for the following purposes:
- to enable the Doctor to provide medical services to you;
- to communicate with you, including sending appointment reminders, confirmations, follow-up information and correspondence relating to your treatment or care;
- to receive and respond to feedback, enquiries or concerns you may have;
- to comply with law, including circumstances where disclosure is required or authorised without your consent, for example where a serious threat to life, health or safety exists;
- to arrange referrals, procedures, hospital bookings and related administration;
- to process fees, payments, Medicare claims, private health insurance claims and related accounts;
- for clinical audit, quality assurance, peer review, accreditation and professional recertification; and
- for practice management, administration, record keeping and systems management.
Why Your Personal Information Is Used
Your personal information may be collected, held, used or disclosed for a number of reasons, including:
- with your consent, for example where you share details for particular purposes relating to receiving medical services;
- to contact you, for example to respond to your queries or to tell you something important;
- to comply with legal, regulatory and licensing requirements;
- to look after your health and wellbeing when providing medical services to you; and
- to manage the Doctor's practice and Gastro Practice Melbourne's operations, including online forms, bookings, records, billing and clinical support services.
Why Sensitive Information May Be Used
Sensitive information is only used if:
- you have provided express and informed consent for the particular collection, use or disclosure;
- it is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person, for example in a medical emergency;
- it is necessary to provide a health service to you;
- it is necessary to deal with legal claims, for example involving court proceedings;
- it is necessary for substantial public interest, for example to prevent or detect unlawful acts; or
- it is otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.
Who Your Personal Information Is Shared With
There are instances where personal information will be disclosed where permitted or required by law, or as follows:
- To Gastro Practice Melbourne: to allow Gastro Practice Melbourne to assist the Doctor to manage the Doctor's files, records and bookings, process payments and otherwise conduct its business;
- Governing bodies: including the RACP, AHPRA and other accreditation, professional, recertification, audit or peer review bodies for the purposes of clinical compliance, professional obligations, quality assurance and recertification;
- Law enforcement bodies and regulators: or authorities in accordance with law or good practice, for example by order of a court or otherwise as required by law;
- Healthcare professionals: including hospitals and other doctors and allied health professionals involved in your care, such as your treating GP, other specialists and allied health professionals;
- Family or representative: any person, family member, representative or other organisation that you have consented to us dealing with, or where disclosure is required, permitted, authorised or otherwise directed by law;
- Appropriate parties in the event of emergencies: in particular to protect the health and safety of you and others, including where required to prevent serious risk to the health, safety or life of you or another;
- Where you consent: for example to provide a report to a GP or other medical professional, lawyer or adviser, or to discuss with another person connected with your treatment, including a spouse, parent or employer;
- Relevant third parties: including private health providers, hospitals, pathology providers, imaging providers, payment processors, IT providers, cloud storage providers, form providers and indemnity providers; and
- Other persons or organisations where disclosure is otherwise permitted or required by law.
Clinical Audit, Quality Assurance and Recertification
The Doctor may use information from procedures and consultations for clinical audit, quality assurance, peer review, accreditation, professional recertification and practice improvement.
Where reasonably practicable, information used for these purposes will be de-identified before it is reviewed, discussed or disclosed. If identifiable health information is required to be used or disclosed for these purposes, this will only occur with your consent or where otherwise permitted or required by law.
Online Forms, Referrals and Uploaded Documents
If you, your GP or another referrer submit information through a patient registration form, GP referral form, request appointment form or other online form, that information may include personal information and health information such as referral letters, investigation results, clinical history and other supporting material.
That information will be collected, used and disclosed for the purpose of assessing the referral or enquiry, contacting you, arranging an appointment, providing care, carrying out related administration and otherwise in accordance with this Doctor Privacy Policy.
How Your Personal Information Is Stored
The Doctor will keep your patient records, including any notes taken during your consultation, private and in accordance with the Privacy Act and other applicable laws, subject to any legal rights to refuse or limit access.
Gastro Practice Melbourne may be asked by the Doctor to store your personal information in physical and electronic form, or a combination of both, on the Doctor's behalf. All of your personal information, whether stored by the Doctor or Gastro Practice Melbourne, will be stored securely using good practice physical, technical and administrative security measures.
Where your personal information is also kept by Gastro Practice Melbourne, how your information is dealt with is provided for under its own privacy policy. You are encouraged to read Gastro Practice Melbourne's privacy policy.
Where Your Information Will Be Held
Gastro Practice Melbourne and the Doctor use third party technology and service providers to operate the practice, including email, document storage, cloud hosting, website, analytics, online form and practice administration systems. This may include providers such as Microsoft 365 and Snapforms or similar providers.
Where information submitted through online forms or email is received, stored, transmitted or otherwise handled through those systems, your personal information may be stored on servers located outside Australia or may be accessed by service providers or support personnel located outside Australia.
Where practicable, overseas locations may include the United States, Singapore and other countries in which Microsoft or other relevant service providers maintain infrastructure or support operations. As provider arrangements and hosting locations may change from time to time, it is not always practicable to identify every country in advance.
Reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that any overseas recipient handles your personal information in a manner consistent with Australian privacy law, unless an exception under the Privacy Act applies.
How Long Your Personal Information Is Stored For
Data collected can be stored for different periods of time depending on what it is and how it is used. Generally, your information is kept for as long as needed to provide medical services, comply with legal, accounting or regulatory requirements or to deal with claims, including legal action.
The Doctor and Gastro Practice Melbourne have a legal requirement to store your information for at least seven years from the time you last had contact with the Doctor, or if you are a minor, until you turn 25 years of age.
Once your personal information is no longer needed, it will be destroyed or permanently de-identified, subject to any legal requirement to retain it.
How You Can Correct Your Personal Information
If you believe that any personal information that the Doctor or Gastro Practice Melbourne holds is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, please contact the Doctor or Gastro Practice Melbourne in writing.
It is your responsibility to advise of any changes to your personal information, for example a change of residential address, email address or phone number.
Either the Doctor or Gastro Practice Melbourne will respond within a reasonable time, being no more than 30 days after your request, and will endeavour to correct any personal information. You may request that your personal information be corrected. However, in some limited circumstances a request for correction may be refused, in which case you will be provided with written reasons for that decision.
Access to Your Personal Information
All individuals have a right to request access to their personal information. Please contact the Doctor if you would like to access your personal information.
The Doctor will generally provide you with access to your personal information within a reasonable period, being no more than 30 days after your request. Depending on the amount of information requested, the Doctor, or Gastro Practice Melbourne on the Doctor's behalf, may charge an access fee to cover the cost of retrieving the information and supplying it to you.
Access to personal information may be refused in a number of circumstances, such as where the information relates to anticipated legal proceedings or the request for access is frivolous or vexatious. If access is denied or restricted, you will be provided with a written explanation.
Privacy Complaints
If you have any concerns about the way your personal information is collected, stored, used, disclosed or otherwise managed, or believe that a breach of your privacy has occurred, please contact the Doctor or Practice Manager in writing using the contact details set out above.
Gastro Practice Melbourne and the Doctor will investigate the complaint and respond as soon as reasonably practicable, and generally within 30 days after receiving your complaint.
If you are not satisfied with the response or outcome, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
If applicable, you may also have rights to complain to the Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria).
Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria)
Website: www.hcc.vic.gov.au
Use of Commonwealth Government Identifiers
The Doctor will not use Commonwealth government identifiers, for example Medicare numbers, as an identifier of individuals. Identifiers will only be used or disclosed in the circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act, and in the case of Medicare numbers:
- for billing purposes; and
- to comply with obligations under legislation such as the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 (Cth).
Heidi Health, Cookies and Google Analytics
AI may be used from time to time, for example ambient AI medical scribes that automate clinical documentation to reduce administrative burden and enable healthcare professionals to focus more on patient care. These services may be utilised to assist in delivering services.
Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer's hard disk for record keeping purposes and which allow customised services to be provided. Cookies and Google Analytics may be used on online services.
Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you would prefer, you can set your browser to refuse cookies. However, if you do so, you may not be able to take full advantage of the website.
Consultation Recordings
Consultations are not routinely recorded. If the Doctor proposes to audio record or otherwise record a consultation, you will be informed of the purpose of the recording beforehand and your express consent will be sought.
You may decline a proposed recording. Any recording made with consent will be handled in accordance with this Doctor Privacy Policy and applicable law.
Definitions
In this Doctor Privacy Policy, the following terms have the meaning given to them below unless the context requires otherwise:
- APPs means the Australian Privacy Principles;
- Doctor Privacy Policy means this privacy policy as amended from time to time and made available on Gastro Practice Melbourne's website and in physical copy upon request;
- Doctor means Dr Anke Nguyen and any other doctor named in this privacy policy who operates their practice with the assistance of Gastro Practice Melbourne, and by whom you are treated or intend to be treated;
- Personal Information has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act, which includes information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not;
- Gastro Practice Melbourne means Melb Gastroenterology Pty Ltd ACN 693 530 415 as trustee for the Gastroenterology Trust, trading as Gastro Practice Melbourne;
- Privacy Act means the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as amended from time to time;
- Sensitive Information has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act and includes health information and other sensitive information regulated under that Act; and
- You/Your means the individual from whom and about whom personal information is collected.