Privacy statement
This following document sets forth the Privacy Policy for the Life Fertility Clinic website, www.lifefertility.com.au. You can also find our Patient Privacy and Confidentiality Policy further below.
Life Fertility Clinic is committed to providing you with the best possible customer service experience. Life Fertility Clinic is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Crh), which sets out a number of principles concerning the privacy of individuals.
Collection of your personal information
If you submit a form on our website you may provide us with basic contact information including your name, phone number and email address to enable us to respond to your enquiry. We may also collect additional information at other times, including but not limited to when you provide feedback, change your content or email preferences, or respond to a survey.
We respect the privacy of our online visitors and we only collect personally identifiable information which you volunteer to us to respond to your questions and comments about us and our services.
We will use all reasonable means to protect the confidentiality of your Personal Data while in our possession or control.
Sharing of your personal information
We may from time to time need to disclose certain information, which may include your Personal Data, to comply with a legal requirement, such as a law, regulation, court order subpoena, warrant, in the course of a legal proceeding or in response to a law enforcement agency request.
We will not knowingly share any of your Personal Data with any third party other than our service providers who assist us in providing the information and or services we are providing to you. We may occasionally hire other companies to provide services on our behalf, including but not limited to handling customer support enquiries, processing transactions or customer freight shipping. Those companies will be permitted to obtain only the personal information they need to deliver the service.
Life Fertility Clinic takes reasonable steps to ensure that these organisations are bound by confidentiality and privacy obligations in relation to the protection of your personal information.
Use of your personal information
For each visitor to reach the site, we expressively collect the following non-personally identifiable information, including but not limited to browser type, version and language, operating system, pages viewed while browsing the site, page access times and referring website address.
This collected information is used solely internally for the purpose of gauging visitor traffic, trends and delivering personalised content to you while you are at this Site. From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice.
If our information practices change at some time in the future we will use for these new purposes only, data collected from the time of the policy change forward will adhere to our updated practices.
Cookies
A cookie is a small file placed in your web browser that collects information about your web browsing behaviour. Use of cookies allows a website to tailor its configuration to your needs and preferences. Cookies do not access information stored on your computer or any personal information (e.g. name, address, email address or telephone number). Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can choose to reject cookies by changing your browser settings. This may, however, prevent you from taking full advantage of our website.
Our website uses cookies to analyse website traffic and help us provide a better website visitor experience. In addition, cookies may be used to serve relevant ads to website visitors through third party services such as Google AdWords. These ads may appear on this website or other websites you visit.
Third Parties
We do not and will not sell or deal in personal or customer information. We will never disclose your personal details to a third party except for necessary information required by providers (of products or services you have purchased) or to protect the rights, property or safety of Life Fertility Clinic.com.au, our customers or third parties or if required by law.
We may however use, in a general sense without any reference to your name, your information to create marketing statistics, identify user demands and to assist it in meeting customer needs generally. In addition, we may use the information that you provide to improve our website and services but not for any other use
Links
This website may contain links to other websites. These links are meant to be for your convenience only. Links to third party websites do not constitute sponsorship or endorsement or approval of these websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. We encourage our users to be aware, when they leave our website, to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by this website.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We plan to ensure our privacy policy remains current so Life Fertility Clinic reserves the right to make amendments to this Privacy Policy at any time. If you have objections to the Privacy Policy, you should not access or use the Site.
Accessing Your Personal Information
You have a right to access your personal information, subject to exceptions allowed by law. If you would like to do so, please let us know.
You may be required to put your request in writing for security reasons. Life Fertility Clinic reserves the right to charge a fee for searching for, and providing access to, your information on a per request basis.
Contacting us
Life Fertility Clinic welcomes your comments regarding this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy and would like further information, please contact us by any of the following means during business hours Monday to Friday.
Phone +61 7 3606 3131
Email reception@lifefertility.com.au
Life Fertility Clinic
1/36 Edmondstone Road
Bowen Hills, QLD 4006
AUSTRALIA
PATIENT PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY
At Life Fertility Clinic we provide you with treatment and healthcare of the highest quality. This requires a relationship of trust and confidentiality – one where we treat your personal health information appropriately and respect your privacy.
Life Fertility Clinic is committed to ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of all personal information affiliated with Life Fertility Clinic’s business undertakings.
Our fertility specialists, nurses, scientists, counsellors and administration staff work together to provide your treatment. They may need access to your personal health information to make sure we provide the most appropriate care.
As such, Life Fertility Clinic follows the terms and conditions of privacy and confidentiality in accordance to the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) as per schedule 1 of the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 (Cth), forming part of the Privacy Act 1988 (‘the Act’).
The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to clearly communicate how Life Fertility Clinic collects and manages personal information.
If you have any enquiries regarding this policy, please contact one of our Reception Staff:
Reception Staff
Life Fertility Clinic
reception@lifefertility.com.au
07 3606 3131
AUSTRALIAN PRIVACY PRINCIPLES (APP’S)
As a private sector health service provider and under permitted health situations, Life Fertility Clinic is required to comply with the APPs as prescribed under the Act.
The APPs regulate how Life Fertility Clinic may collect, use, disclose and store personal information and how individuals, including Life Fertility Clinic’s patients may:
• address breaches of the APPs by Life Fertility Clinic;
• access their own personal information; and,
• correct their own personal information.
In order to provide patients with adequate fertility care services, Life Fertility Clinic will need to collect and use personal information. It is important to be aware that if the patient provides incomplete or inaccurate information or the patient withholds personal health information Life Fertility Clinic may not be able to provide the said patient with the services they are requesting.
In this Privacy Policy, common terms and definitions include:
– “personal information” as defined by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Meaning
“information or an opinion including information or an opinion forming part of a database, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material format or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion”; and,
– “health information” as defined by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This is a particular subset of “personal information” and means information or an opinion about:
– the health or a disability (at any time) of an individual;
– an individual’s expressed wishes about the future provision of health services to him or her; or,
– a health service provided or to be provided to an individual.
Personal information also includes ‘sensitive information’ which is information including, but not limited to a patient’s:
– race;
– religion;
– political opinions;
– sexual preferences; and or,
– health information.
Information deemed ‘sensitive information’ attracts a higher privacy standard under the Act and is subject to additional mechanisms for the patient’s protection.
TYPES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Life Fertility Clinic collects information from each individual patient that is necessary to provide the said patient with adequate fertility care services.
This may include collecting information about a patient’s health history, family history, ethnic background or current lifestyle to assist the Life Fertility Clinic team in diagnosing and treating a patient’s condition.
COLLECTION AND RETENTION
This information will in most circumstances be collected directly from you via the Life Fertility Clinic registration form, procedure consents, face to face consultation etc.
In other instances, Life Fertility Clinic may need to collect personal information about a patient from a third party source. This may include:
– relatives; or,
– other health service providers.
This will only be conducted if the patient has provided consent for Life Fertility Clinic to collect his/her information from a third party source; or, where it is not reasonable or practical for Life Fertility Clinic to collect this information directly from the said patient. This may include where:
– the patient’s health is potentially at risk and his/her personal information is needed to provide them with emergency medical treatment.
Life Fertility Clinic takes all reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we collect, use, hold or disclose is accurate, complete, up-to-date and relevant to the functions and services we provide.
You can help us achieve this by providing correct and up-to-date information. Life Fertility Clinic takes reasonable steps to store and protect your personal information from misuse and loss. We also take reasonable steps to protect it from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Security measures include physical and technology security including storage of files in lockable cabinets, restriction of access, firewalls and the use of encryption and passwords.
To ensure we comply with regulatory requirements, it is our policy to keep your medical records for at least seven years. Donor records are to be maintained indefinitely and where the Clinic ceases to practise arrangements are in place for records to be transferred to another suitable practitioner or location.
PURPOSE USE AND DISCLOSURE
Life Fertility Clinic only uses a patient’s personal information for the purpose(s) they have provided the information for unless one of the following applies:
– the patient has consented for Life Fertility Clinic to use his/her information for an alternative or additional purpose;
– the disclosure of the patient’s information by Life Fertility Clinic is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of criminal law or a law imposing a penalty or sanction, or for the protection of public revenue;
– the disclosure of the patient’s information by Life Fertility Clinic will prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to somebody’s life or health; or,
– Life Fertility Clinic is required or authorised by law to disclose your information for another purpose.
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO PROVIDE TREATMENT
During the patient’s treatment at Life Fertility Clinic he/she may be referred to alternative medical treatment/services (i.e. pathology or radiology) where Life Fertility Clinic’s staff may consult with senior medical experts when determining a patient’s diagnosis or treatment.
Life Fertility Clinic’s staff may also refer the patient to other health service providers for further treatment during and following the patient’s admission (i.e. outpatient or health services).
These health professionals will be designated health service providers appointed to use the patient’s health information as part of the process of providing treatment. Please note that this process will be conducted whilst maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of the patient’s personal information.
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH SERVICES
At any point should a patient wish to be treated by an alternative medical practitioner or health care service who requires access to his/her personal/health information Life Fertility Clinic requires written and signed authorisation. This written authorisation is to state that the patient will be utilising alternative health services and that these health services have consented for a transfer of personal/health information.
OTHER THIRD PARTIES
Life Fertility Clinic may provide your personal information regarding a patient’s treatment or condition to additional third parties. These third parties may include:
– parent(s);
– child/ren;
– other relatives;
– close personal friends;
– guardians; or,
– a person exercising a patient’s power of attorney under an enduring power of attorney.
Where information is relevant or reasonable to be provided to third parties, written and signed consent from the patient is required.
Additionally, the patient may at any time wish to disclose that no third parties as stated are to access or be informed about his/her personal information or circumstances.
OTHER USES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
In order to provide the best possible environment in which to treat patients, Life Fertility Clinic may also use personal/health information where necessary for:
– activities such as quality assurance processes, accreditation (Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee RTAC), regulatory obligations (Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproductive Database ANZARD), Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA)) audits, risk and claims management, patient satisfaction surveys and staff education and training;
– invoicing, billing and account management;
– to liaise with a patient’s health fund, Medicare or the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, as necessary; and,
– the purpose of complying with any applicable laws – i.e. in response to a subpoena or compulsory reporting to State or Federal authorities.
If at any point or for any of the aforementioned reasons Life Fertility Clinic uses or discloses personal/ health information in accordance with the APPs, Life Fertility Clinic will provide written notice for the patient’s consent for the use and/or disclosure.
ACCESS AND CHANGES TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
In all but a few rare cases, you can access the personal information we hold about you, in part or in full, or ask us to provide it to a third party such as another healthcare provider.
If an individual patient reasonably requests access to their personal information for the purposes of changing said information he/she must engage with the relevant staff.
Should you wish to access this information please contact the reception staff and ask for an accessing Medical Records brochure or alternatively you can ask for access in writing. There may be an administration fee for this service, depending on the nature of access required. If you feel any of the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, please let us know. It is our policy to note your corrections and add them to your records. We don’t erase the original record.
The point of contact for patient access to personal information is:
Reception Staff
Life Fertility Clinic
reception@lifefertility.com.au
07 3606 3131
Once an individual patient requests access to his/her personal information Life Fertility Clinic will respond within a reasonable period of time to provide the said information.
All personal information will be updated in accordance to any changes to a patient’s personal circumstances brought to Life Fertility Clinic’s attention. All changes to personal information will be subject to patient’s consent and acknowledgement.
It is imperative that you keep Life Fertility Clinic updated with your personal details including but not limited to, phone numbers, email, home/mailing address, change in your name or partner.
This is particularly important if you have stored specimens (gametes (eggs/sperm), ovarian/testicular tissue, embryos) with Life Fertility Clinic as we will need to contact you with regard to ongoing consent to storage and payment of storage costs.
Failure to inform Life Fertility Clinic of a change of address/phone numbers will render you un-contactable.
In the event that you cannot be contacted at your last known address or if you have been unresponsive to a letter email, phone and SMS or invoice sent to that address, please be aware that the following steps are then taken. GP and pathology companies are contacted to ensure there are no updated contact details available through them. If details cannot be updated through these means, a search of the web and social media sites (i.e. facebook) will be made.
Your confidentiality will be preserved at all times and enquiries will be made on behalf of the treating specialist not Life Fertility Clinic.
COMPLAINTS HANDLING
We want to make sure your expectations about your privacy protection and treatment are the same as ours. If you have any concerns, please let us know by any of the following means:
• writing via mail or email
• verbally in person or over the phone
• or addressed to The Medical Director: Dr Glenn Sterling and marked “private and confidential”.
Upon receipt we will make our best endeavour to address complaints within 60 days.
If you feel uncomfortable making your complaint directly to the clinic you may raise a complaint to an external agency such as the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) or the Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO), the process of which is advised through contact with the particular agency.
If your complaint is about treatment at our Melbourne clinic you can contact the Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner by calling 1300 582 113 or completing an online form on their website: hcc.vic.gov.au/make-complaint
Alternatively, privacy and confidentiality complaints can be made to the:
Federal Privacy Commissioner:
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
PH: 1300 363 992.
enquiries@oaic.gov.au
PERSONAL INFORMATION AND ELECTRONIC ONLINE CONSENTS
Information you provide when you use our online consenting program is transferred and temporarily stored on Microsoft Azure Services servers located in the UK. This data is only used for the purpose of gaining your informed consent to procedures. All data is permanently deleted from Microsoft Azure Services servers after your cycle is completed.
PERSONAL INFORMATION AND OVERSEAS RECIPIENTS
Life Fertility Clinic otherwise does not engage with any overseas entities, with which personal or health information would be transferred, appointed or disclosed without your consent and/or unless at your request when transferring Medical Records.
DISPOSAL OF PERSONAL/HEALTH INFORMATION
If Life Fertility Clinic receives any unsolicited personal information that is not deemed appropriate for the permitted health situation, Life Fertility Clinic will reasonably de-identify and dispose of said information accordingly.
If Life Fertility Clinic holds any personal or health information that is no longer deemed relevant or appropriate for the permitted health situation, Life Fertility Clinic will reasonably de-identify and dispose of the said information accordingly and record details of disposal.
A patients treating Dr, will authorise the disposal of any archived medical files after a period of seven years, except in the circumstances of donor patients. This authority will detail the reason, date and method of disposal.
ACCESS TO POLICY
Life Fertility Clinic provides free copies of this Privacy Policy for patients and staff to access, which can be/will be located/provided:
Hard Copies provided upon request
Website: www.lifefertility.com.au
REVIEW OF POLICY
Life Fertility Clinic in accordance with any legislative change will review the terms and conditions of this policy to ensure all content is both accurate and up to date.