Privacy Statement

The privacy of your information

What information do we collect?

The Bays Hospital embraces the Australian Privacy Principles and Health Privacy Principles in relation to personal and health information. In summary, these principles state that:

  • The Bays only collects information that is:
    • necessary to provide health services to you
    • required by law
    • required to meet statutory reporting requirements
    • required to enable the hospital to receive payment for the services it provides.
  • Health information about an individual will only be collected from that individual, except where it is impracticable to do so (such as in the case of minors, or those who are physically or mentally incapable of doing so).
    • The Bays only uses or discloses information for the purpose it was collected.
    • Information collected, used or disclosed by The Bays is accurate and up-to-date.
    • Information collected by The Bays is protected against unauthorised use or disclosure.
    • Download The Bays Privacy Policy (PDF)
    • Other than in exceptional circumstances, individuals are entitled to access their health information and to seek correction of incorrect information.
    • Commonwealth assigned identifiers such as Medicare numbers are not used by The Bays as patient identifiers.
    • Individuals have the right to not identify themselves, unless this would prove impractical (for example where this would mean the hospital was unable to claim benefits from a health fund) or illegal.
    • Health information is considered to be sensitive information under privacy legislation.
    • Health information shall be made available to other health service providers with the individual’s consent, except where there may be a serious or imminent threat to life of any person, and the individual is unable to provide consent, or it is required to treat the condition for which The Bays originally collected it, in which case it may be made available without consent.

The Bays Healthcare Group will not use your information for the secondary purpose of fundraising or promotion of community health initiatives unless you have consented to receiving communications.

Who do we give your information to?

A number of organisations may require us to provide them with your information. This can be by law, or by request.

Agencies and service providers to whom we provide information

Health Fund/Third Party Payer/Commonwealth/Dept of Health and Aged Care

  • Information provided: Details regarding your hospitalisation to enable us to be paid for the care we provide. This may include information in code format regarding your medical condition and operations performed. This information identifies you by name.

Pathology, Radiology, Ambulance Service, Pharmacy

  • Information provided: Socio-demographic data, health fund membership, pension and Medicare details, ambulance membership number and medication prescriptions.

State Health Department

  • Information provided: De-identified socio-demographic data and coded information regarding the medical condition you were treated for. If you have a baby, information about your pregnancy and delivery will be forwarded to the Perinatal Data Collection Unit. In the event that you are treated for a “notifiable” disease, information about you will be forwarded to the Health Department. This will identify you by name.

Private Hospitals Data Bureau

  • Information provided: De-identified socio-demographic data, coded information regarding the medical condition you were treated for and information in relation to our charges.

Cancer Council of Victoria

  • Information provided: In the event that you are treated for cancer, information about you, your admission, the type of cancer and the doctor who treated you will be provided.

Local Council

  • Information provided: If you have had a baby, the local Council will be advised so the Maternal Child and Health Care Nurse is aware of the birth.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

  • Information provided: Each year, the hospital sends collective statistics in relation to hospital activity to the ABS. This does not identify any individuals.

Other Healthcare Providers

  • Information provided: If you are transferred to another hospital or health service provider, a summary of your admission will be sent with you to ensure continuity of care. You will be given information regarding your medications on discharge to give to your community pharmacist and local doctor.
  • Consent required: Once you have left hospital, your written consent will be required for us to release personal or health information about you to another health care provider, except where there may be a serious or imminent threat to life or health of any person, and you are unable to provide consent, or it is required to treat the condition for which The Bays originally collected it, in which case it may be  made available without consent.

Third party review

  • Information provided: Disclosure for external review by third party provider for incident review.

Individuals

  • Information provided: You can request access to your health information by submitting an application form, or contacting our Privacy Officer or After Hours Coordinator at The Bays on 5975 2009. The hospital charges a fee to provide access to your health information.

Hospital Medical Quality Assurance Sub-Committees

  • Information provided: Doctors and key hospital staff meet regularly to discuss medical clinical indicators such as unplanned return to operating theatre and reasons for induction of labour, to ensure quality care. Individual cases are discussed, but neither patients, nor their doctors are identified by name.

Australian Council on Healthcare Standards

  • Information provided: Statistical information regarding key medical clinical indicators such as readmission rates. This does not identify any individual patient.

Court

  • Information provided: If your health information is subpoenaed to be presented to a law court, or the subject of a search warrant, the hospital must comply with this request. In the event of a death being the subject of a Coroner’s Case, your health information must be sent to the Coroner’s Court.

Other common uses

  • Information provided: External review for peer review and risk management

Accessing your information

To request access to a patient record, you will need to submit an application form and proof of authorisation to access patient information (e.g. your Driver’s licence).

We will:

  • confirm that we have received your request
  • review it within the legislative framework
  • advise you of any costs associated with providing it
  • provide access to the information once any relevant costs are paid

If your request cannot be fulfilled we will advise you and explain the reasons why.

As a courtesy we advise the doctors involved in your care and treatment that you have made a request for your information. You may specify that we do not advise them.

There are no costs for us to supply your health information directly to another health care provider.

If you would like us to amend information we hold about you we will do this in consultation with the person who originally recorded the information.

Parents, guardians or those with Enduring Power of Attorney can also request your information.

Information security

Our computer systems at The Bays have multi-level password access. Users are only able to access information they require to perform their duties. Our systems are backed-up daily.

Medical records are securely stored at all times and access is restricted to a limited number of staff.

All our staff receive training about patient information, privacy and confidentiality. Every effort is made to ensure that discussions about your care are kept confidential and conducted in a private area if possible.

For more information

The Bays adopts the Australian Privacy Principles and Health Privacy Principles as the basis of our health information privacy policy. For more detail, download our full Privacy Policy (PDF).

If you have any issues or concerns about the privacy of your information, please phone our Privacy Officer on 03 5975 2009.

The Bays Hospital
Vale Street
PO Box 483
Mornington VIC 3931
Phone 03 5975 2009

The Bays Dialysis Unit
19 McCallum St
Hastings VIC 3915
Phone 03 5979 0344

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