Salisbury Family Care is a fully Accredited General Practice providing modern, well equipped facilities with highly trained medical, nursing, allied health and administration staff. Our standard consult timings are 15 minutes with the option to extend to 30 minutes when required.

Salisbury Family Care has made the diffcult choice to increase our gap fee to $30 from Monday the 10th August 2023. this will allow us to cover practice expenses that standard Medicare billings can no longer cover (See diagram above). Patients who hold concession cards or who are under the age of 16 will not be charged a Gap fee for their consult. These concession cards include:

•        1)  Health care card holders
•         2)  Pension card holders
•        3) Gold Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) card holders
•         4) Children below the age of 16 years                                                                                                                                                                                         Dr Watson is the only general practitioner who charges a gap fee regardless of concession entitlements.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The full fee (usually $71.40 or $110.10) is payable on the day, if you present an EFTPOS card on the day you will receive your rebate straight back on your card. ($41.40 or $80.10 respectively). Please speak to our reception team for further details of the practice fee structure.

Minor surgical procedures, excisions, dressings, wound reviews, ECG’s, ear syringing, implanon insertions/removals, toe nail wedge resections, iron infusions and certain vaccinations will incur a nominal fee. Please speak with our reception team for further details.

Not attending a consultation without prior notice denies another patient an opportunity to see their doctor/allied health professional. This causes an inconvenience to patients, clinicians and the practice.

The clinician and the practice reserve the right to enforce a cancellation fee of up to $50.00 or to deny further clinical care to a patient who does not show up for their consultation without having given prior notice.

Appointments must be made to get a new or update to an existing referral/script by your usual GP.

Our practice may observe the content and information made available by employees through social media.

Examples of prohibited social media content include posting commentary, content or images that are defamatory, pornographic, propriety, harassing or libelous.

Employees are not to publish, post or release any information that is considered confidential or not public.

Employees must get appropriate permission before referring or posting images of current or former employees, contractors or patients.

Employees must be clear that their online posts are personal and purely their own. The practice should not be held liable for any repercussions the employees content may generate.

Employees must show respect for others and others opinions in all posts

This privacy policy is to provide 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.

Why and when your consent is necessary

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our GPs 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.

Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?

Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. 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).

What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes your:

-names, date of birth, addresses, contact details

-medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors

-Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes

-healthcare identifiers

-health fund details.

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 do we collect your personal information?

Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.

-When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.

-During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information.

-We may also collect your personal information when you send us an email or SMS, telephone us, make an online appointment or communicate with us using social media.

-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:

-your guardian or responsible person

-other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services

-your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).

When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?

We sometimes share your personal information:

-with third parties who work with our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or information technology providers – these third parties are required to comply with APPs and this policy

-with other healthcare providers

-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)

-during the course of providing medical services, through  My Health Record (e.g. via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).

Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than in the course of providing medical services or as otherwise described in this policy, our practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent.

We will 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 person or in writing.

How do we store and protect your personal information?

Our practice stores all personal information securely in an electronic format. Personal passwords are used for all staff who have access to clinical records. Staff who may need to access your health information have signed a confidentiality agreement.  Access limitations are set in accordance to the staff members role within the practice.

How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?

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

Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing and our practice will respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days.  Access to your personal health record will incur a fee to cover administration costs, these costs vary depending on the size and complexity of 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 you should make such requests in writing to the practice.

How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled at our practice?

We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing to the Practice Manager, Salisbury Family Care, T19/83 Saints Rd, Salisbury Plain, 5109. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure usually within 30 days.

You may also contact the OAIC. Generally, the OAIC will require you to give them time to respond before they will investigate. For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 363 992.

Policy review statement

This privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur.  Any changes to our policy will be published on the practice website and made available at the practice.