GEOFFREY DEEB DENTAL SURGEON operates in accordance with and is bound by the National Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988.

Accessing your Dental Record

We are pleased to provide you with access to your dental record. Generally, you will only be denied access to your dental record in exceptional circumstances as prescribed by the Privacy Act or other applicable laws. If you wish to access our dental record, please make your request known to your Dentist, or to anyone of our staff. Your dentist (or the staff member) will refer your request to our nominated information privacy officer, who is Geoffrey Deeb.

Our information Privacy Officer will, if necessary, clarify your request with you. You will then be provided with a photocopy of your Dental Record containing the information that you request. Please note that in exceptional circumstances the law may require that we withhold some or all of this information from you. If any of these exceptions are applicable we will inform you of the reasons why information was withheld.

Generally, the information that you have requested will be made available to you within 14 days of us first receiving your request. We reserve the right to charge you an access fee to recover or photocopying costs (at 20 cents per page) and other copy costs (such as the cost of duplicating x-ray photographs) at ordinary commercial cost. You will be required to pay these access charges before we provide the copy of your record to you. In no circumstances will we provide you with original records. We also strongly suggest that you keep them in a safe, confidential place, all photocopies of records that we provide to you.

Collecting Information for your Dental Record

We only collect health and personal information from you when that information is necessary for us to attend to your dental health care requirements. This information is stored in your dental record. We only collect information from you directly or, with your consent, from other health service providers that you have referred us to, such as your family doctor, or whom we may have engaged to help us to attend to your dental requirements. The main exception to this is if you under 18 years of age, in which case, with your consent, we may collect information about you from a parent or guardian.

Generally, we collect most of our information about you during our consultation. Other situations where we collect information are where we have to take or arrange for you to undergo tests, including x-ray or other examinations, or where health information about you is provided to us by another health care professional in accordance with general health industry practice. In these circumstances we will take reasonable steps to make you aware of the results of those tests or examinations as soon as possible after we receive them.
 

Storage and Maintenance of you Dental Record

 
We take reasonable steps to ensure the information we collect about you is accurate, complete and up to date. We rely heavily upon you to advise us of any significant changes in your general health or well being that are relevant to your dental care.

Please review your dental record from time to time in conjunction with your Dentist and advise us of anything that has become inaccurate or requires correction. We take reasonable steps through physical security measures and computer security practices to protect your dental record from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
 

Use and Disclosure of your Dental Record

 
We only use the information in your dental record for the primary purpose of meeting your dental care requirements. Generally we do not disclose any health or personal information contained in your dental record to any person except with your consent, or in accordance with generally accepted health industry practice, or in exceptional cases where we have a legal obligation to disclose that information.
One general exception to this is if you are under 18 years of age, in which case, we assume that we are entitled to discuss information in your dental record with your parent or legal guardian. Another exception is where we disclose information to another dental practitioner, specialist, or other health care provider in accordance with general health industry practice. We do not adopt, use or disclose as part of your dental record any Commonwealth Government reference numbers or identifiers. We do not transfer any health or personal information about you overseas.
 
Australian Privacy Commission
If you wish to find out more about the Commonwealth information privacy laws, you can do so by contacting the Australian Privacy Commissioner, including be email at privacy@privacy.gov.au or by visiting the Australian Privacy Commissioner’s website www.privvacy.gov.au.
If you have any comments or complaints about the way that this practice handles your information request, or any of the information about you that is included on your dental record, or about any disclosure or use of that information by us, we encourage you to discuss them with your Dentist at the first instance. The Australian Privacy Commissioner has jurisdiction to investigate alleged breaches of the National Privacy Principles and to investigate complaints.