Introduction
Gynaecology and Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery (GAALS) Brisbane is committed to best practice in relation to the management of information we collect. GAALS has developed a policy to protect patient privacy in compliance with privacy legislation. Our policy is to inform you of:
the kinds of personal information that we collect and hold
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.
What kinds of personal information do we collect?
The type of information we may collect and hold includes personal information about:
your name, address, date of birth, email and contact details
Medicare number
your health information and other sensitive information.
How do we collect and hold personal information?
We will generally collect personal information:
from you directly when you provide us with your details
from a person responsible for you
from third parties where the Privacy Act or other law allows it.
Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?
In general, we may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:
to provide health services to you (this may include communicating with other healthcare providers such as your referring General Practitioner, allied health providers and other medical specialists)
to communicate with you
to comply with our legal obligations, which may include mandatory notification of communicable diseases
to help us manage our accounts and administrative services.
How you can access and correct your personal information
Subject to the exceptions set out in the Privacy Act, you may seek access to and correction of the personal information that we hold about you. A fee may be charged for providing access, and you will be advised of the cost in advance. The contact person in this practice is our Practice Manager (contact). Alternatively, you can write to us at:
Gynaecology and Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery, Brisbane
PO Box 57
Greenslopes QLD 4120
How can you make a privacy-related complaint?
We will take reasonable steps to protect the security of your information and comply with our legal obligations. Our staff are trained and required to respect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
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, we would encourage you to contact our Practice Manager in the first instance. Any complaint will be investigated by the Practice Manager and you will be notified of the outcome in relation to your concerns as soon as is practicable, usually within 30 days.
If you are not able resolve your privacy-related concerns directly with us, you may wish to contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (www.oaic.gov.au or phone 1300 363 992).
Are we likely to disclose your personal information overseas?
We may disclose your personal information to the following overseas recipients:
any practice or individual who assist 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)
anyone else to whom you authorise us to disclose it
anyone else where authorised by law.
How we communicate with you
We may communicate with you in a number of ways, including by phone, email and text message. We may send you an initial email or text message to notify you about an appointment, however we will only continue to communicate with you by email or SMS with your consent. The email messages we send are not encrypted so we cannot guarantee confidentiality of information sent by email.
Our website
When you visit our website at www.gaals.com.au, we collect the following non-personally identifiable information, including but not limited to your browser type, your operating system, the pages you view, the time you access the pages and the referring website address. We collect this information solely for the purpose of understanding visitor traffic, trends and delivering personalised content to you while you are at our website.
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.
Policy last updated: June 2023