PRIVACY POLICY
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Clinical Psychologist, SALLY JAYNE GATT located in the clinic of St Quentin's Clinical Psychology, is committed to protecting the privacy of any personal information that the clinic collects about you, and is bound by the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principles, and other laws governing how health service providers handle your personal information and health information.
Psychological Service As part of providing a psychological service to you, Sally Gatt will need to collect and record personal information from you that is relevant to your current situation. This information will be a necessary part of the psychological assessment and treatment that is conducted. Client Information Client files are held in a secure filing system, which is accessible only to authorised personnel. The information on each file includes personal information such as name, address, contact phone numbers, and other information that is relevant to the psychological service being provided. Purpose of holding information The information is gathered as part of the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of the client’s condition, and is seen only by the psychologist. The information is retained in order to document what happens during sessions, and enables the psychologist to provide a relevant and informed psychological service. What information will we collect? In order to provide you with advice and treatment, we may collect information about you including: (a) Your personal history and family history (b) Your health information (c) Your contact details (d) Your private health insurance and Medicare details (e) Your billing/payment details (f) Any details of government benefits received or concessions available (e.g. Centrelink, Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Care Card) (g) Sensitive information about you (e.g. your race, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, lifestyle,opinions) (h) Any documents associated with your relevant medical history and treatment. We may collect this information from you or from your nominated health care provider (e.g. GP, psychiatrist, other medical specialist, hospitals, clinics, lawyers, family members). We will only collect information from other people about you with your consent, except in cases of emergency. It is important that you provide the Clinic with accurate and complete information to enable us to provide you with the services you require and to assist us to undertake accurate and timely assessments and treatments. How will we use your information? We intend to use information about you with your consent to provide you with our services, communicating with you before, during and after providing you with our services, to secure or undertake a referral to another health practitioner or facility, to comply with insurance or legal requirements, to address complaints, to administer accounts, audits and quality assurance processes, or to address threats to life, health and safety. We may also share information with your other health care and community service providers with your consent where it is necessary to provide you a holistic service. We may disclose your information to your parent, child, friend, guardian, attorney or legal representative, unless you advise us otherwise. Security We will put in place measures to protect the security of your personal information and to protect it from misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure. In most cases, your information will be stored securely in locked filing cabinets in hard copy and also secured electronic format. The Clinic will comply with relevant laws before destroying or de-identifying any information about you, where it no longer needs to retain that information. Tele-health Sessions * Whilst every reasonable effort is made to ensure security of data and connection, this cannot be guaranteed; * The client must also take care to ensure security of data and connection, such as keeping (e.g., Skype) account secure with a good password and logged out when not in use; * The client must be able to access a local support such as GP, medical clinic or hospital in the event of an emergency; * The client must provide the therapist with contact details for a local GP and a NOK/friend/relative for emergency contact purposes; * Any handouts or clinical follow-up that may be conducted via email cannot be guaranteed for data security, although every reasonable effort will be taken; * At times the internet connection may cause the tele-health call to drop out, or the video connection to be poor – in these cases, the session should be able to be completed via telephone; * The session will be most useful when the client treats it as if attending the psychology office, and is in a private/quiet room, with a comfortable place to sit, any water or beverage required, and pen/paper available for notes during session. Disclosure of personal information Services are provided in confidence and personal information provided by you will not be disclosed except in the following circumstances: *a* it is subpoenaed by a court or other bodies with similar power; or *b* failure to disclose the information would in the reasonable belief of Sally Gatt place you or another person at risk to life, health or safety; *c* your prior approval has been obtained. i.e.., to: **c* Provide a written report to another professional or agency. **c* Discuss the material with another person (parent, employer etc); or **c* For the purpose of professional development, where case material may be used (with names and other identifying details changed); or **c* If you have been referred by your GP (or another third party), who requests a brief update, prognosis etc. How can you access or correct your information? At any stage clients may request to see the information about them kept on file. The psychologist may discuss the contents with them and/or give them a copy. You may access any information which we hold about you at a time which you have agreed with the Clinician. We will only refuse access if it poses a risk to life, health or safety, it would unreasonably affect someone else’s privacy, there is no reasonable purpose for the request, or you are prevented by law or as a consequence of legal proceedings from accessing documents. If we deny access, we will keep a record of your request on file. It will help us to process your request for access if you send through your request in writing. . All requests by clients for access to information held about them should be lodged with Sally Gatt. These requests will be responded to within 14 days and an appointment will be made for clarification purposes. If you believe there is an error in the personal information we hold about you, we will take reasonable steps to correct that record while retaining any original records, unless there is a legal reason to refuse to correct that information, in which case we will keep a record of your request on file. If your request would involve material time or cost, we may impose a fee to meet those costs (e.g. photocopying). Using the website (sallygatt.com.au) When you use the website, we will not collect your personal information unless you provide it to us (e.g. by sending us an email, complaint or enquiry). Our internet service provider will record and log information about your visit to our website, including your computer address, the date and time of your use, what pages you have accessed, what browser you used, and your top level name (e.g. *.com). This is for statistical purposes to ensure that we keep our site relevant and effective. However, we may also be required to disclose this information to government or law enforcement agencies in accordance with applicable laws or directions. Our website uses ‘cookies’ to allow our service to interact with and identify your computer by noting your internet service provider and browser. Our website uses temporary cookies which are destroyed once you close your browser. You can manage or reject cookies by reconfiguring your browser, however this may affect how you use or access our website. The Website includes links to other websites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy associated with those links and websites. We will only use information collected via the website for the purpose for which it has been given to us, where it is required by law, or to address a threat to life, health or safety, or in accordance with your consent. If the personal information you have provided to us via the website has changed, please contact us to have this information updated. Complaints and Concerns (or compliments) If you have a concern about the management of your personal information, please inform Sally Gatt. Upon request you can obtain a copy of the National Privacy Principles, which describe your rights and how your information should be handled. Ultimately, if you wish to lodge a formal complaint about the use of, or access to, your personal information, you may do so with the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner on 1300 363 992, or GPO Box 5218, Sydney, NSW 1042. If you have a queries or concern about privacy in the Clinic, please contact Ms Sally Jayne Gatt to discuss. This policy is current as at August 2019. |
Consulting Rooms & Postal Address:
ST QUENTIN'S CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY St Quentin Apartment Complex FIRST FLOOR Suite 10 40 St Quentin Avenue Claremont WA 6010 Office Hours: Monday: CLOSED Tuesday: 9am - 4.30pm Wednesday: 11am - 7pm Thursday: 9am - 4.30pm Friday: 9am - 4.30pm Tele-Health Video Session: Monday & Saturday by appointment. 
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