Privacy Policy

Current as of: 1st May 2025
Practice Name: Fernvale Dental

Introduction

This privacy policy provides information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our practice, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties. We are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and other applicable privacy laws and regulations.

Definitions

For the purposes of this policy:

• Personal Information is defined under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information is true or not and whether it is recorded in a material form or not. This includes things like your name, contact details, date of birth, and Medicare number.
• Health Information is a subset of personal information and includes information or opinions about your health, medical history, or the health services you have received or will receive. It also includes personal details collected when you book or receive dental treatment with us.
• Third Party refers to any external organisation or individual that is not directly part of our practice but is involved in helping us provide services or carry out our business functions. This may include IT providers, cloud software vendors, marketing platforms, or specialist healthcare providers.

Why and when your consent is necessary

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our dental practitioners and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible dental care. 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 generally seek additional consent from you to do this, unless obtaining your consent is not practical or reasonable, and an exception under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) applies.

What personal information we collect

The information we will collect about you includes your:

• name/s, date of birth, address/es, contact details (e.g. telephone, email), family contact information
• details of your oral health condition and the treatment/s and service/s you have received, including photos and scans
• details of your general health (e.g. medications, allergies, medical conditions) and medical history that may impact the dental treatment you receive
• private health insurance information
• Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
• information regarding other funding sources, where relevant (e.g. Child Dental Benefits Schedule, Department of Veterans’ Affairs)
• information on workers’ compensation, motor vehicle and other accident claims, where relevant
• healthcare identifiers, where relevant.

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

How we collect your personal information

We collect information in a number of ways, including:

• When you register as a new patient via phone call or online booking tools
• During your appointments, through discussions and clinical assessments
• Via our website, email, SMS, social media, or phone interactions.
• Using third-party tools such as:
  o CareStack – our secure, cloud-based dental practice management system
  o Google Analytics – to understand how our website is used
  o Boxly, Healthshare, Campaign Monitor, Unbounce and similar tools – to manage website/social media leads, appointment requests, or communications
• 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:
  o your guardian or responsible person
  o other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists and diagnostic imaging services
  o your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).

Why we collect, use, hold and share your information

Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide dental services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your dental 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).

We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our services, opportunities, or events that we consider may be of interest to you if you have requested or consented to receive such communications. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Australian Spam Act 2003 (Cth). You consent to us sending you those direct marketing communications by any of those methods. If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so. You may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us at any time by following the instructions to “unsubscribe’ set out in the relevant communication or by contacting us using the details set out in the “How to contact us” section below.

Who we share your personal information with

We may share your personal information in the following situations:

• with third parties who work with our practice for business purposes, such as information technology or marketing providers – these third parties are required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles
• with other healthcare providers involved in your care
• when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. court subpoenas)
• when it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent
• to assist in locating a missing person
• to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
• for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
• when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g. some diseases require mandatory notification)
• if required during a change of ownership or sale of the business

Website and digital privacy

If you contact us through our social media pages (e.g. via direct message or public comment), any personal information you provide will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

When you contact us via our websites, we share your data with third-party vendors, consultants, and service providers (‘third parties’) who perform services for us or on our behalf and need access to such information to carry out their work, including Google Analytics. Third Parties may also collect anonymous data about your interactions with our website and services to deliver relevant advertisements. While our website may contain links to third-party sites, we are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any linked websites.

When we use Google Analytics, we may share your information with Google Analytics to track and analyse the use of the Services. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across the Services, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. For more information on Google’s privacy practices, please view the Privacy Policy and Terms at https://policies.google.com/.

By using our website, you acknowledge and agree to our use of cookies as outlined in this policy. You can manage or disable cookies at any time through your browser settings.

Overseas disclosure

Some of the platforms we use, such as CareStack, may store data on secure servers located overseas (e.g. in the US). We take steps to ensure that any overseas service providers we use are compliant with privacy standards equivalent to Australian law.

If you have any concerns about this, we’re happy to talk through how your data is managed.

How we store and protect your information

• Your information may be stored in both paper and electronic formats, including visual/audio formats like photos and X-rays.
  We protect your data through:
• Secure digital systems with multi-layer authentication were possible
• Encrypted cloud-based storage
• Secure storage for physical records
• Confidentiality agreements for staff and contractors
• Regular data access reviews and secure data disposal protocols
• We keep your records in accordance with legal obligations (usually at least 7 years from the date of last treatment, or longer for minors).

Accessing and correcting your information

You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.

Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their dental records. We ask that you put this request in writing to admin@fernvaledental.com.au. We will endeavour to respond as soon as possible, but at most within 30 days. If copies of records are requested, an administrative fee may apply to cover the time and resources involved — but there is no fee to make the request.

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 to assist us with attending to your request we would prefer you to make such requests in writing to admin@fernvaledental.com.au or you can choose to complete and update medical history form.

What to do if you have a privacy concern or complaint

We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing. We will then attempt to resolve your issue/s in 30 days, in accordance with our resolution procedure.

You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The OAIC may decide not to investigate your complaint if you have not raised it with the practice first. If you have lodged a complaint with us, and we have not responded within 30 days or you are dissatisfied with our response, you may then take your complaint to the OAIC. For further information visit https://www.oaic.gov.au/ or call the OAIC on 1300 363 992.

You may also choose to contact your state or territory’s health complaints body, depending on the nature of the issue.

How to contact us

Fernvale Dental
9/1455 Brisbane Valley Highway, Fernvale QLD 4306
admin@fernvaledental.com.au
07 54270880

Policy review

We may occasionally update this privacy policy to reflect changes in the law, our systems, or the way we work. The latest version will always be available on our website and can be provided on request.