BDHH General Practice Privacy Policy
Current as of: September 2025
Introduction
This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which
includes your health information) is collected and used within our practice, and the circumstances in which
we may share it with third parties.
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our GPs and practice staff to access
and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Only staff
who need 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.
Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?
Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. Our main
purposes for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health. We
also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits
and accreditation.
What personal information do we collect?
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
- health fund details
Dealing with us anonymously
You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to
do so or unless we are required or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.
How do we collect your personal information?
Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.
- When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic
information via your registration.
- During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information. Our
practice participates in eHealth services and information may also be collected through electronic
transfer of prescriptions and the My Health Record. Your health information will not be uploaded to
the My Health Record without a prior discussion with you and without your consent. Electronic
transfer of prescriptions will also not occur without your prior consent.
- We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS,
or telephone us.4. In some circumstances personal information may also be collected from other sources. Often this is
because it is not practical or reasonable to collect it from you directly. 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
- your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).
When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?
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 (eg 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 purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
- when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (eg some diseases
require mandatory notification)
- during the course of providing medical services, through electronic prescribing, My Health Record (eg
via 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 that are 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 at any time by
notifying our practice in writing.
Our practice may use your personal information to improve the quality of the services we offer to our
patients through research and analysis of our patient data.
We may provide de-identified data to other organisations to improve population health outcomes. The
information is secure, patients cannot be identified and the information is stored within Australia. You can
let our reception staff know if you do not want your information included.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information is stored at our practice in electronic form. Medical information is stored in data
centres located within Australia through the company Medical Director Helix, who comply with stringent
Australian privacy standards.
Our practice stores all personal information securely in electronic format. Information required for booking
appointments is stored in data centres located within Australia through the company Cliniko, who comply
with all requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles.
How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.
Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put
this request in writing and provide this via our reception staff to Dr Natalie Barton. Requests will be acted
upon, within 14 days.
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 personal information held by
our practice, is correct and current. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and
you should make such requests in writing to Andrea Donchi, BDHH Practice Manager.
How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled at our practice?
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns
you may have in writing. Please address these to Mrs Andrea Donchi, Practice Manager, By Design
Holistic Health, 22 Hardy Street, Lilydale 3140. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our
resolution procedure.
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.
Policy review statement
This privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur.
The amended policy will be available on our website and via reception.
