Patient Information

Fees

• Medicare bulk-billing is available for regular consultations (if you have a valid Medicare card)
• Private fees may apply for some minor procedures to cover the cost of equipment (such as IUD, skin cancer biopsies/excisions, wound laceration repair etc), ECG and pathology tests, and worker's compensation
• For those WITHOUT a valid Medicare card, our doctor's fees are:

Standard Consult Item 23	<20min	$60 ($18.60 Gap/ $41.40 Rebate)
Long Consult Item 36	20-30min	$95 ($14.90 Gap/$80.10 Rebate)
Prolonged Consult Item 44	>40min	$135 ($17.00 Gap/$118.00 Rebate)

After Hours/Public Holidays	<20min   Item 5020	$75 ($21.10 Gap/$53.90 Rebate)
	20-30min Item 5040	$115 ($22.55 Gap/$92.45 Rebate)
	>40min Item 5060	$149 ($19.35 Gap/$129.65 Rebate)

*Normal hours: Monday to Friday 8am - 8 pm, Saturday 9am - 1 pm 

After hours: Saturday 1 pm onwards, Sunday whole day

Note: under 16 years-old - no gap price + $8.05 which should be fully covered by health insurance 

 

Appointments

Our practice is an appointment based practice, although walk-ins may be accommodated depending on circumstances.

Telehealth consultation - Our practice offers bulk-billed telehealth consultations (this is done over the phone) for existing patients that have visited our practice previously in person within a 12 month period. Exceptions include patients who have contracted COVID -19. 

Home visits - Home visits are available only to regular patients of this surgery in special circumstances at the discretion of the GP. The doctor makes local area house calls in times of emergency and when it is deemed safe for them to do so. Please inquire at the reception for the changes associated with this service. House calls are only available for regular known patients who lives within a 2 kms radius of the practice and only at the discretion of the treating doctor. 

Policies

• Results policy: Please make a follow-up appointment with the doctor to discuss all results. Unfortunately we are unable to give results over the phone. 
• Privacy policy: We value your privacy and it is our policy to maintain the security of your health information at all times. We ensure that this information is only available to authorized staff. Our full privacy policy is available on request at the reception desk.
• Communications policy: You can contact us by phoning during our opening hours and our reception staff will assist with your enquiry. If we are busy with other phone calls during this time then please call back in a few minutes. For emergencies, please dial 000. 
• Email policy: Our practice does not use email as a form of communication without the consent of our patients. Our emails are not encrypted so we can not guarantee the confidentiality of it's content being accessed inadvertently or intentionally by a third party. Patient consent is implied if you choose to email us first. We endeavour to reply to your emails within 3 days. If you are experiencing an emergency please dial 000. 
• Complaints: We would like your feedback if you are concerned about the service you have received. Please contact us to discuss your concerns with the practice manager.
• Cancellation Policy: We understand that unexpected issues can emerge and if that happens, we ask for scheduled appointments to be cancelled at least 24 hours in advanced for allied professionals and 3 hours in advance for General Practitioners. There will be a fee of $25.00 if we do not receive a call to cancel an appointment.

 

Canterbury Plaza Medical Centre Privacy Policy 

Current as of: 27/12/2023

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 purpose 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, and business processes (eg staff training).

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.

1.     When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
2.     During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.
3.     We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email or SMS, telephone us or make an online appointment 
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 eTP, My Health Record (eg via Shared Health Summary, Event 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.

The General Practitioners at Canterbury Plaza Medical Centre utilise Best Practice software which is programmed to automatically insert the relevant information to fulfill referrals to specialists and allied health professionals. The details are preloaded with the already established information eg. allergies, current medications, past medical history, patient contact details, to ensure that referrals are valid and compliant. The role is to establish multidisciplinary care to benefit the patient’s health outcomes. Patients always have the opportunity to review such documents and discuss amendments if necessary.

How do we store and protect your personal information?

Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms including paper records and electronic records 

Our practice stores all personal information securely by: 

• Securing our premises; 
• Pacing passwords and varying access levels on database to limit access and protect electronic information from unauthorised interference, access, modification and disclosure: and 
• Providing locked cabinets and rooms for the storage of physical records. 

Telehealth Consultations 

At Canterbury Plaza Medical our GP and allied health professional will obtain verbal consent from patients at the start of each telehealth consultation. All consultations are private and only relevant doctors can access patient notes. Our practice DOES NOT record telehealth video or telephone consultations and we do not give patients permission to make their own recordings of a telehealth video or phone consultations.

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 our practice will respond within 30 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 cplazamedical@gmail.com or by notifying our receptionists. 

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 to Canterbury Plaza Medical Centre, Shop 119/2D Charles Street, Canterbury NSW 2193, ATTN: Practice Manager. Phone: 02 8321 8850 Fax: 02 8056 7187. Alternatively you can lodge your complaints via email to cplazamedical@gmail.com. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure. Upon receipt of a complaint we will consider the details and attempt to respond within 30 days. Please provide a reply address and contact number to facilitate this process. 

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. Privacy and our website

Policy review statement

The independent practitioners and Canterbury Plaza Medical manager will review this privacy policy annually to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. We will post a notification on our website for any future updates.