Burwood Podiatry & Lower Limb Rehab (“we”, “us”, “our”), operated by Medcentre Podiatry Pty Ltd (ABN 79 604 620 117), is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, why, how we use and protect it, and your rights.
This policy applies to information we collect about our patients, their carers and representatives, referrers, website visitors, contractors and suppliers — whether collected in person, by phone, by email, through our online booking system, or through our website.
For patients, this is generally:
Health information is “sensitive information” under privacy law and receives a higher level of protection. We collect it with your consent and, where relevant, under the exception that allows a health provider to collect information necessary to provide you with a health service. We only collect what we reasonably need.
Wherever practicable we collect information directly from you — for example when you complete an intake form, book online, or speak with us. Sometimes we collect it from others where you would expect us to or where it is necessary for your care: your referring GP or other treating practitioners; specialists, imaging or pathology providers; a parent, guardian, carer or authorised representative; or Medicare, DVA, your health fund, an NDIS/aged-care case manager, or a SIRA insurer in connection with your funding.
You may deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym for general enquiries. However, to provide safe clinical care, keep an accurate health record, and process funded claims, we generally need to know your true identity, and in those cases it is not practicable to treat you anonymously.
We use your information to assess, diagnose, treat and manage your foot and lower-limb health and provide continuity of care; to communicate with you about appointments, care and results; to liaise with your GP, referrers, case managers and other members of your care team; to arrange orthotics, imaging and related services; to process claims and rebates and take payment; to send appointment reminders and recalls; to manage the quality, safety, training and administration of our services; to respond to a complaint or a legal claim; and to meet our obligations under Australian law. We use your information only for a purpose you would reasonably expect and that is related to your care, for a purpose you have consented to, or as required or authorised by law.
We do not sell your personal information. We share it, only as reasonably necessary, with: the podiatrists and staff involved in your care; your GP, referrers, specialists and other treating practitioners; imaging, pathology and orthotic laboratories and suppliers involved in your treatment; Medicare, your health fund (via HICAPS), DVA, an NDIS/aged-care case manager or a SIRA/workers-compensation insurer, for claims and funding; our contracted service providers (for example our practice-management and booking software, IT support, secure messaging and accounting providers), who are bound to protect your information and use it only for the services they provide to us; a parent, guardian, carer or authorised representative where appropriate; our professional advisers, insurers and, where required, regulators or courts; and others where you consent or where the disclosure is required or authorised by law (for example to lessen or prevent a serious threat to life, health or safety).
We may contact you with appointment reminders, clinical recalls and information relevant to your care, by phone, SMS, email or mail — these are part of providing your care. Where we send you news or educational material, we do so on an opt-in basis, every message includes a simple way to unsubscribe, and you can opt out at any time. We do not sell your details to third parties for marketing. Opting out of marketing does not affect the reminders and recalls that are part of your clinical care.
We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Our measures include limiting access to authorised staff on a need-to-know basis using individual logins; multi-factor authentication on systems that hold patient data; encryption of information in transit and at rest; physical security of the premises and any paper records; confidentiality obligations for staff and contractors; and regular backups that we can restore.
We keep health records for the minimum periods required under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) and its Regulation — generally at least 7 years from the date of the last health service for an adult, and for a patient who was under 18, until they turn 25 — and longer where necessary. When information is no longer needed and the retention period has passed, we securely destroy or de-identify it.
Where clinical photographs (for example of a wound or nail) help your care, we take them only with your consent, store them securely as part of your health record, and use them only for the purpose you have agreed to. We ask for separate, express consent before any use of an image beyond your clinical record — for example teaching or promotional use — and you can decline or withdraw that consent at any time without affecting your care.
Some systems we use to run the clinic are provided by third parties:
Your clinical records are held in Australia. Where we do disclose personal information to an overseas recipient, we take reasonable steps under Australian Privacy Principle 8 to ensure it is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.
We have procedures to contain and assess any actual or suspected data breach. If a breach involving your personal information is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under Part IIIC of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
We do not use automated computer programs to make decisions about your care or funding that would significantly affect you without a person being involved; clinical decisions are made by your treating practitioner. If we introduce any such automated decision-making, we will update this policy to explain it, in line with our obligations under the Privacy Act.
Our website uses cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Cookies never collect anything that identifies your health information, and you can change or withdraw your cookie choice at any time.
You can ask to access the information we hold about you, and to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete or misleading. There is no charge to make a request, although we may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of retrieving and copying records (we will tell you first). We verify your identity, respond within a reasonable time (usually within 30 days), and provide access in the way you ask where reasonable. In limited cases the law allows us to decline — for example where access would pose a serious threat to someone’s life, health or safety, or unreasonably affect another person’s privacy — and if we do, we explain why and how you can seek a review.
If you have a question or a privacy complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer first so we can resolve it. We take privacy seriously and will respond promptly.
| Privacy Officer | Practice Manager, Burwood Podiatry & Lower Limb Rehab |
| Address | 16 Railway Parade (Rear Building, Level 1 – Suite 102), Burwood NSW 2134 |
| Phone | (02) 9701 0477 |
| burwoodpodiatry18@gmail.com |
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact either privacy regulator:
| OAIC | Office of the Australian Information Commissioner — oaic.gov.au · 1300 363 992 (Privacy Act / APP matters) |
| IPC NSW | Information and Privacy Commission NSW — ipc.nsw.gov.au · 1800 472 679 (NSW health-records / HRIPA matters) |
For concerns about clinical care specifically, you can also contact the Health Care Complaints Commission (NSW) or the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practice or the law. The current version is always available at our clinic and on our website, with the date it was last updated.