Privacy Policy; Mind Connections Specialist Health Services

1. Purpose and scope 

This Privacy Policy applies to the collection, use, disclosure and management of personal information by Mind Connections Specialist Health Services and its associated entities, including each clinic in the network.

This Privacy Policy sets out how, when and why specialist doctors and allied health collect your personal information and how that information is ordinarily used or disclosed. This policy includes details on how you can access the personal and health information about you, how to correct your personal information, how to contact us with any concerns or enquiries and how to make a privacy complaint.

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services is committed to protecting your privacy and respects and upholds your rights to privacy protection under the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, including State and Territory health records legislation when dealing with personal information. 

2. What is your personal information?

Personal information is any information or an opinion (whether true or not and in any form) about an identified individual. 

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information and includes information or an opinion about:

1. an individual’s racial or ethnic origin;
2. membership of a professional or trade association;
3. sexual orientation or practices;
4. criminal record;
5. health information;
6. genetic information;
7. biometric information and templates.

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services is committed to ensuring all of your personal information is afforded the highest level of protection. For this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, no distinction has been made between the handling of personal information and sensitive information. 

3. What personal information is collected from you?

The types of personal information that Mind Connections Specialist Health Services collects from you will depend on your relationship with us, the nature of the service we are providing or activity you are involved in and the legal obligations we may have.

Patients

Examples of personal information which we may collect from patients of our clinics include, but are not limited to:

• your name, postal address, delivery and collection addresses, phone number and e-mail address
• demographic information, including profession, gender, age and date of birth
• health information about patients, including medical and family history, medications, diagnostic imaging and reports, pathology results, diagnoses (including mental health or disability), observations and reported symptoms
• financial details and billing information, including your credit card details, Medicare number and health fund details
• details of any other health services or providers which you see or to which you are referred.
  

4. When we collect your personal information

We only collect personal information by lawful and fair means as reasonably necessary for one of our functions or activities, to meet our legal obligations, or otherwise following any specific consent you gave.

5. How we collect your personal information

Directly from you

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services will endeavour to collect personal information directly from you or with your consent. We collect personal information about you in several ways, including but not limited to:

• when you provide us with information in person, electronically or over the telephone;
• if you complete relevant forms, surveys, and questionnaires or you otherwise contact or communicate with Mind Connections Specialist Health Services;
• if you are providing services to Mind Connections Specialist Health Services or its patients or
• if you apply for employment or partnership with Mind Connections Specialist Health Services.

From someone else

Where it is unreasonable or impracticable to collect information directly from you, Mind Connections Specialist Health Services may obtain personal information about you from a third party. For example, Mind Connections Specialist Health Services may collect personal information about you from:

• other health service providers;
• relatives, friends or carers;
• publicly available sources of information;
• from third parties such as Medicare, DVA, your health fund, credit reporting bodies and marketing agencies, including information you may provide to us using our social media pages,
• referees identified in your application for employment or partnership and
• from our records.
  

6. What happens if we cannot collect your personal information?

If you do not provide us with the personal information described above, some or all of the following may happen:

• we may not be able to provide our services, products or programs to you;
• we may not be able to provide you with information or essential updates about services, products and programs that you may want;
• we may be unable to tailor the content of our Websites or a Mind Connections Specialist Health Services social media to your preferences and your experience of our Websites or
• we may not be able to process or progress your Partner application.

7. Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information?

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services collects, holds, uses and discloses your personal information so that we can perform and improve our activities and functions as a health service provider and provide you with products or services you may request.

8. How do we use and disclose your personal information?

Primary purpose

We will use and disclose your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected or otherwise, per privacy laws or your consent. In some cases, this will include disclosing your personal information to a person or entity outside the Mind Connections Specialist Health Services network.

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services will take reasonable steps to ensure that privacy obligations in relation to the continuing protection of your personal information bind these organisations.

Some disclosures that may be necessary in providing you with a health service include to:

• Mind Connections Specialist Health Services staff, Partners, agents, contractors and consultants involved in the provision of your care or administrative staff involved in the provision of services to you;
• other health service providers involved in your care and treatment, and their staff;
• financial institutions, Medicare, DVA or your private health insurer for billing;
• your authorised or responsible contact or next of kin;
• Government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, including those operating relevant public health registers as required or authorised by law.

Secondary purposes

We will otherwise only use or disclose your personal information for another secondary purpose if:

• you have consented to the use or disclosure;
• for the general management and operation of As required or authorised by law, for example:
  • billing/debt-recovery, service monitoring, funding, complaint-handling, incident reporting, developing and planning services, evaluation and improvement, quality assurance or audit activities, and accreditation activities;
  • education and training of our staff (who may not be our employees), where de-identified information is not sufficient for this purpose;
  • third-party service providers who provide services to Mind Connections Specialist Health Services such as information technology, maintenance and repair, marketing, payment systems, etc.;
• we have reasonable grounds to believe the use or disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious and imminent threat to an individual’s life, health or safety or a severe threat to public health or public safety;
• the use or disclosure is required or authorised by law.

9. Transfer of personal information outside Australia

We do not hold your personal information outside Australia. We may hold your personal information in the cloud or on servers in Australia. 

10. Direct Marketing and your privacy

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services also collects your personal information for marketing purposes, including e-newsletters, promotions and special offers. Our communications may be sent to you in various forms, including mail, SMS, notifications, fax and e-mail per applicable laws. If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical.

Suppose you have received marketing information from Mind Connections Specialist Health Services and wish to stop receiving it. In that case, Mind Connections Specialist Health Services will not disadvantage you if you choose to opt out of receiving marketing material.

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services may occasionally provide its marketing material to third parties to distribute material on Mind Connections Specialist Health Services’s behalf.

11. Security and Data Quality

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services will take all reasonable steps to secure your personal information. We recognise the importance of ensuring that personal information is accurate and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information collected, used or disclosed is complete and up to date.

Electronic information is protected by various security measures such as usernames and passwords; access to information and databases is restricted to our staff and contractors needing access to the information to perform their duties.

Mind Connections Specialist Health Services cares about protecting the security of your personal information, and we have implemented security procedures to protect personal information.

Because of the sensitive nature of the information collected by Mind Connections Specialist Health Services, precautions are taken to ensure the security of the information. Information may be stored electronically. Security and business continuity measures like password protection and regular backups are employed to maintain the privacy and availability of electronic files.

12. How you can access and correct your personal information held by the Mind Connections Specialist Health Services.

You may, at any time, request details of and access to a copy of your personal information held by us by contacting us in writing. To protect your privacy, Mind Connections Specialist Health Services may require proof of your identity before acting upon your request.

In response to valid requests, we will provide you with access to your personal information unless there is a legal or administrative reason for denying or limiting access, as permitted by the Privacy Act 1988. If we propose denying access for any reason, we will advise you of the grounds and reasons for any refusal.

Where we provide you with access to your personal information, Mind Connections Specialist Health Services reserves the right to charge you a reasonable administrative fee for providing such access. We will not charge for simply making the request or making any corrections to your personal information.

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, you may request us to amend it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, we will add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree.

13. CCTV System Presence

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) may be used at Mind Connections Specialist Health Services clinics to enhance safety, protect assets, and support state policing to investigate and respond to crime and bring offenders to justice. The recording of CCTV footage may be continuous or limited.

The CCTV Policy includes the requirement for signage to be present where CCTV is operating. CCTV systems are only installed in areas of operation. CCTV cameras are never hidden.

14. Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time, we may need to make updates or change this privacy policy without notice. The updated privacy policy will be accessible on the website at all times.

15. How to contact us

Suppose you would like to contact us or require more information concerning Mind Connections Specialist Health Services’s approach to privacy or how Mind Connections Specialist Health Services handles your personal information. In that case, you can write to us addressed to our practices.

Alternatively, you can e-mail your privacy query directly to us by using the “Contact Us” page on our website.

16. How do you make a complaint or provide us with feedback?

If you wish to complain to Mind Connections Specialist Health Services about how we have handled your personal information, please provide full details of your complaint in writing and send it to Mind Connections Specialist Health Services. Please allow up to 30 days for your request or complaint to be processed.

We will treat your complaint confidentially, investigate your complaint and aim to ensure that we contact you and your complaint is resolved within a reasonable time (and in any event within the time required by the relevant privacy legislation, if applicable). We may ask you to participate in a dispute resolution scheme (such as mediation) to resolve your complaint.

If your complaint relates to our failure to provide access to or to correct any personal information that we hold about you, or if you are not satisfied with how we deal with your complaint, you may lodge or refer your complaint directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (for more information, please see www.oaic.gov.au ).

Individuals enquiring about their rights and remedies for breaches of privacy can access detailed information at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner www.oaic.gov.au

This Privacy Policy was last updated in May 2024.