We are deeply committed to inclusive practice – and to the cultural and psychological safety of all young people, irrespective of cultures, faiths, genders, identities and abilities.
If something is making you feel unsafe during your time with us, please let us know by speaking with our friendly staff or by sending us a message (anonymously on our website or via email reception@westerlyclinic.com)
Confidentiality means that information you share with us is kept private and only used for your care. We won’t share it with anyone you don’t want us to, including your school or parents.
There are a few exceptions to this:
We might share your information if you give us the okay first.
Health information will usually be shared between your healthcare providers. This is because it’s important we all work as a team.
If someone is in trouble and needs help right away, health providers can share information without asking first. They can do this to save lives or prevent serious harm.
Sometimes, the law says health providers have to share information. For example, if the government or a court asks for information, they have to give it, but they try to keep it private when they can.
If someone might hurt themselves or someone else, doctors might need to tell someone who can help prevent that from happening. This can include their parents.
If there’s an illness that can spread and make many people unwell, doctors might need to tell others to keep everyone safe. This helps stop any illness from spreading. This is usually ‘de-identified’, which means information about who you are isn’t shared.
Our practice is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and relevant state and territory privacy legislation.
A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at https://www.oaic.gov.au/.
This policy outlines how we collect, use, store, and disclose your personal information, and your rights in relation to that information.
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our medical practitioners 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.
Collection of personal information
Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual.
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 (e.g. staff training).
Personal information that is necessary for providing quality healthcare services may include:
Personal information is collected through various means, including:
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:
We ensure that personal information is collected directly from the individual whenever practicable, except in cases where collection from third parties is necessary for patient care.
Use and disclosure of personal information
Your personal information may be used or disclosed for purposes including:
We utilise state-of-the-art cybersecurity and cloud technologies, and we only partner with third-party services that demonstrate their shared commitment the Australian Privacy Principles. We will not otherwise disclose your personal information to third parties unless required or authorised by law and/or with your consent. We will also 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.
Storage and security of personal information
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms, e.g. as paper records, electronic records, visual records (X-rays, CT scans, videos and photos), audio recordings.
We take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is stored securely to prevent unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Our security measures include:
Personal information is retained in accordance with legal and professional retention requirements.
Where it is necessary to conduct a telehealth consultation from our doctors’ private premises they will take reasonable steps to maintain a private and secure environment to conduct such consultations.
Rights and choices
You have the right to:
Requests for access or corrections should be made in writing to our practice, addressed to our practice manager at the contact details below.
We will endeavour to respond within 30 days and although we will not charge any fee for your access request, we may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your Personal Information.
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 reception@westerlyclinic.com.
How to make a complaint
We take privacy concerns seriously and encourage you to contact us if you have any concerns about the handling of your personal information. Complaints should be made in writing and addressed to our practice manager at the contact details below. We will endeavour to respond within 30 days.
We will acknowledge and investigate your complaint in accordance with our complaints-handling procedures.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au or call 1300 363 992.
Contact details
For any privacy-related queries, requests, or complaints, please contact us at:
Phone: 0497 897 871
Email: reception@westerlyclinic.com
Address: Westerly Youth Clinic, PO Box 4099, Mosman Park, Western Australia 6012, Australia
This privacy policy is available on our website and at our reception. It will be reviewed regularly to ensure compliance with legal and operational requirements.
