Lucy Beumer values and respects privacy. I handle information about clients in a way that protects privacy and adhere to the principles of this policy. Lucy Beumer bases these privacy principles on the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principles (2014) and the Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and Australian Psychological Society respectively.
Privacy principles
- I only collect information from clients necessary for good health care; and aim to ensure that any information held is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
- My practice takes great care to ensure that information records are accurate, and treated with full regard to the privacy of clients. I am pleased to discuss procedures with you, and to amend any inaccuracies.
- The health information held helps to provide clients with the best possible health care, and is normally disclosed only to your referring health care practitioner, if appropriate. If I need to disclose information about you to others involved in your health care, I will seek your consent first.
- Occasionally I may be involved in research on health issues. If any data from this practice is used in research, it will not include information which identifies clients, unless special circumstances apply. In such cases, I will seek your prior permission and provide you with further details of how your information is to be used.
- For quality assurance and clinical audit activities, health information from this practice is sometimes used to help improve the treatment and service provided. Data used for these purposes is de-identified to protect the privacy of patients.
- This practice has systems in place to protect the security of health records. They are kept in a secure location; and no unauthorised person has access to them.
- Destruction of records usually occurs when they are no longer needed. For medico-legal reasons, I am required to maintain records for some time, even if you no longer attend the clinic.
- Individuals will be able to access their personal information upon request within a reasonable timeframe. However my practice may occasionally need to deny access to information in accordance with the exemptions contained under the Act.
Please notify me of any changes to your contact details, or your health status which may impact upon your treatment. If in doubt, you can discuss these issues further with myself or your general practitioner. If you wish to access your records, discuss any aspect of these privacy policies or review your health records, please advise me.