Mobile Eye Clinic Privacy Policy

1         Introduction

This privacy policy sets out the way Mobile Eye Clinic manages your personal (including health) information. In this policy, Mobile Eye Clinic (or "us", "we" and "our") means Austraffic Optics Pty Ltd t/as Mobile Eye Clinic (ABN 97 062 313 026). Mobile Eye Clinic values your privacy and will collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy.

2         Purpose of collection, use and disclosure of your personal information

We need to collect, use and disclose your personal information to provide optometry services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, and disclosing your personal information is to manage your eye health and to provide you with eyewear products and services.

We also collect, use and disclose your personal information for related activities such as processing financial claims and payments, to advise you about our products and services and for direct marketing purposes. We may disclose your personal information (except your health information) to our third-party service providers and information technology providers to facilitate the ongoing management of Mobile Eye Clinic.

3         What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes:

• name, date of birth, address and contact details;
• medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, social history, family history and risk factors;
• activities that may impact your eyesight such as your occupation and hobbies;
• previous service details including information about your previous prescriptions;
• Medicare number for identification and claiming purposes;
• healthcare identifiers;
• health fund details.

4         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 we are required or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals.

In most cases, it will not be practical for us to deal with you anonymously or under a pseudonym. We need to know your personal information so we can process Medicare and health claims, maintain health records and provide medical reports if necessary.

5         How do we collect your personal information?

We may collect personal information about you from:

• you, directly when we visit you for an appointment, speak with you over the telephone, you fill out our Consent form, visit our website or contact us via email or SMS;
• Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions and My Health Record/PCEHR systems (via Shared Health Summary or Event Summary (“e-health services”);
• other optometrists, medical practitioners, nursing staff, hospitals, community health services, pharmacists and other health care professionals; 
• staff at an aged care facility in which you reside, such as a nursing home or retirement village;
• Medicare, health funds, government agencies and Veterans Affairs (where applicable);
• A guardian appointed under the Guardianship Act (NSW) 1987, an Attorney, under an Enduring Power of Attorney, a spouse or partner, carer, relative or friend. 

Where possible, we will collect your personal information directly from you.  However, this may not always be possible, depending upon whether you have the capacity to provide us with the necessary information and whether you hold the information.

6         How we disclose and use your personal information

We may disclose your personal information to:

• product providers such as lens suppliers and manufacturers and contact lens vendors to provide eye wear to you;
• e-health services to update your health records; 
• other health care providers such as other optometrists, medical practitioners, and nurses to manage your eye care; 
• aged care facility staff where you reside, such as a nursing home to manage your eye care; 
• Medicare, health funds and government agencies (such as Veteran’s Affairs); 
• a guardian, attorney, spouse, adult child, partner or other relative or a person nominated by you, to manage your eye care; 
• our third party and professional advisers such as I.T service providers, accountants and lawyers; 
• debt collectors and credit reporting agencies; 
• government, regulatory and law enforcement agencies or as required or authorised by law; 
• where there is a statutory requirement to disclose your personal information (for example mandatory disease notification requirements); 
• establish, exercise or defend a legal or equitable claim; or
• undertake confidential dispute resolution. 

We will only disclose your personal information if it is necessary to do so.

We will not use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent. If you do not consent, you may opt-out of direct marketing at any time by notifying us. 

7         How we store and protect your personal information

We take reasonable steps to store your personal information in a safe environment both physically and electronically.

For example, we store documentation containing personal information in locked cabinets on our premises. Our electronic records are stored on password protected systems with firewalls in place. We train and require our staff to comply with our privacy policy.

We use cloud services to store your personal information.

We will only retain Personal Health Information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose outlined in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

We are required by Australian law to retain medical information for 7 years, under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002, Section 25(1).

When we are no longer required by law to retain your personal and medical information, we have systems in place to de-identify or destroy it.

8         Your right to access and correct personal information that we hold

Except in certain circumstances, you have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.

If you wish to access your personal information, you must put your request in writing to us. We will provide you with access to your personal information within 30 days of your request, unless we are not required to provide access pursuant to law.

We may charge you a reasonable fee to compensate us for the cost of complying with your request.

We make every endeavour to keep your personal information up to date. If you believe that the personal information that we hold about you is incorrect or out of date, please contact us at clinic@mobile-eye-clinic.com to request us to correct or update your personal information.

9         How to make a privacy complaint

We take complaints and concerns regarding your privacy seriously. If you have a privacy complaint about Mobile Eye Clinic please contact us in writing at Mobile Eye Clinic, Tower A The Zenith 9/821 Pacific Highway, Chatswood, NSW 2067 or clinic@mobile-eye-clinic.com. We will review your complaint and respond to you within 30 days.

You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on 1300 336 002 or the NSW Government Health Care Complaints Commission on (02) 9219 7444 or toll free on 1800 043 159 about your complaint.

10      Updates to our Privacy Policy

We regularly review our privacy policy to ensure that it is in accordance with any changes to our privacy management and privacy laws. If we make any changes to it, we will post an updated copy of it on our website at http://www.mobile-eye-clinic.com/. We will provide a copy of our privacy policy to you upon request.