Your Care

YOUR RIGHTS	YOUR PRIVACY
RISKS

We would like to make your visit with us as comfortable as possible. Your health and well-being are our primary concern. Peninsula Endoscopy Centre was established as a Private Day Hospital in January 1989 with the sole aim of providing an optimum standard of health care in Endoscopy to the community of Frankston and its surrounds. Our commitment continues to strengthen and in February 1992 the Peninsula Endoscopy Centre was the first private facility on the Peninsula to be awarded Accreditation with the Australian Council of Health Care Standards.

This is the highest recognition that can be given to a Private Hospital or Day Care facility.

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre is a registered private hospital with the Department of Health and Community Services and has
provided agreements with major health funds to maximise patient benefits.

We are a dedicated experienced team of Endoscopists / Surgeons, Anaesthetists and Nursing Staff specialising in endoscopic techniques and minor surgical procedures.

Patients' rights and responsibilities

Each patient has the right to participate in their own health care. We at Peninsula Endoscopy Centre and your doctor will work to ensure this occurs. You have the right to expect:

• an environment that is safe and respects privacy and confidentiality.
• to be treated with courtesy and to have your ethnic, cultural and religious practices and beliefs recognised.
• an environment that promotes each patient's sense of personal worth and well being.
• a clear, concise, understandable explanation of:
  - your condition or problem
  - your planned investigation and
  - any possible after effects or side effects and any serious risks involved.
• to be informed of and give consent to any procedure where consent is required by law. By entering Peninsula Endoscopy Centre it is our understanding that you are requesting treatment.
• To know the identity and professional status of any doctor and staff caring for you.
• prior to the commencement of your procedure, an explanation of all costs.
• the right to have details of condition and treatment kept confidential by medical and other staff at Peninsula Endoscopy Centre, unless the law requires that said information be given to the authorities.

It is your responsibility to:

• be as accurate and as honest as possible with information about your health in order to plan your appropriate treatment.
• accepting responsibility for your decisions if you refuse medical treatment.
• be considerate of the needs and rights of other patients and staff at Peninsula Endoscopy Centre.
• accept responsibility for payment of attending doctors' fees and Peninsula Endoscopy Centre charges.

If you wish to express a concern about any aspects of you care you may do so by informing any staff member. Your concern will be given immediate attention. At all times our focus is your care, safety and well being.

Personal information management policy

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre respects and upholds your rights to privacy protection under the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. The National Privacy Principles apply to us from their introduction 21 December, 2001.

This policy describes how we manage any personal information we have about you.

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre may hold the following information about you:

• name, street, telephone number(s)
  
• date of birth
  
• health information
  
• General Practitioner
  
• Referring Doctor
  
• Returned Service Organisation
  
• Religious beliefs or affiliations
  
• transaction details associated with services we have provided to you
  
• any additional information provided to us by you
  
• any information you provide to us through patient surveys.

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre will destroy or de-identify personal information due to redundancy after its legal obligations to retain the information have expired.

WHAT DOES PENINSULA ENDOSCOPY CENTRE DO WITH MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We use personal information about you:

• to provide medical treatment and care to you;
  
• to assist your treating doctors, nursing staff and other allied health professionals in providing medical treatment and care to you at our facility;
  
• to assist with any calls you make to us;
  
• for our internal administrative requirements;
  
• to process private health fund claims;
  
• to provide information to Medical Practitioners, Registered Nurses and other Allied Health Professionals who provide necessary follow up treatment and ongoing care;
  
• for benchmarking and clinical indicator reporting in a de-identified form;
  
• to provide data in both an identified and de-identified form to State Government agencies in compliance with numerous legislative requirements;
  
• to provide data in a de-identified form to the Private Hospital Data Bureau;

and with your consent:

• Service Planning;
  
• To communicate promotional offers and special events;
  Marketing;

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre will not disclose personal information about you to any person except on a confidential basis to agents that we use in the ordinary operation of our business, such as for data processing, printing or mailing.

You may at any time opt out of receiving any communications for us (other than as required for the operation of our business eg, regarding payment of your account).

STORAGE

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre stores personal information:

Contained in paper based and other hard copy documents in a dedicated storage facility located in the Hospital (or at 21 Yuille St if not at the hospital).

Such records are only accessible by those who require access to the personal information for the purpose of carrying out their employment.

OPENNESS

You may request access to personal information we hold about you by writing to Michelle Egan at Peninsula Endoscopy Centre at the address below. You do not have to provide a reason for requesting access. Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will endeavour to provide you with a suitable range of choices as to how you may access it (eg post or collection).

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request amendment of it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment , then we will add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree with it.

Any questions about this policy, or any complaint regarding treatment of privacy by Peninsula Endoscopy Centre, should also be made in writing to the address below.

Our contact details are as follows:

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre
17 Yuille St
FRANKSTON VIC 3199
Phone: (03) 9783 1847
Fax: (03) 9781 1250

MISCELLANEOUS

In this policy “personal information” and “health information” have the same meaning as under the Privacy Act. References are to Peninsula Endoscopy Centre A.C.N No. 007 067218 which has issued this policy.

This document represents our to date. We may change this policy from time to time. Although we intend to observe this policy at all times, it is not legally binding on Peninsula Endoscopy Centre in any way. From time to time we may regard it as necessary or desirable to act outside the policy. Peninsula Endoscopy Centre may do so, subject only to any statutory rights you have under the Privacy Act or other applicable legislation.

PRIVACY STATEMENT FOR PENINSULA ENDOSCOPY
CENTRE WEB SITE

We are committed to providing our visitors with a web site that respects their privacy. This page summarises the privacy policy and practices on our web site.

We do not automatically gather any personal information from you, such as your name, phone number, or e-mail address. This information is only obtained if you supply it voluntarily, usually through contacting us via e-mail, or registering in a secure portion of the site.

Any personal information you do provide is protected under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic). This means that, at the point of collection, you will be informed that your personal information is being collected, the purpose of which it is being collected and that you have a right of access to the information.

When you visit this web site, our web server automatically collects a limited amount of information essential for the operation and security of our web site and any other sites that reside on the server. Some of this information (eg: browser type) does not identify who you are. Other information, such as your Internet Domain name or Internet Protocol (IP) address, may identify you depending, in large part, on the naming standards followed by your Internet service provider. You may wish to ask them about their policies and practices in this regard.

We do not use “cookies” to track how our visitors use the site. If “cookies” are enable to facilitate your transactions, we will first inform you.

Visitor information is not disclosed to anyone except Peninsula Endoscopy Centre personnel who need the information, eg, to respond to a request.

This web site contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the content and the privacy practices of other web sites and encourage you to examine each site’s privacy policy and make your own decisions regarding the accuracy, reliability and correctness of material and information found.

For more information about any of the policies described above or about our web site in general, please contact us

Are there risks involved?

As with any surgical procedure, complications are possible although rare. That is why all medical practitioners associated with Peninsula Endoscopy Centre are fully qualified specialists in their respective fields - gastroenterologists, surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses.

Potential transmission of disease, particularly hepatitis B, C and AIDS is avoided by maintenance and surveillance of the highest possible standard of cleaning and disinfection of equipment following stringent infection control guidelines.

We are presently the only facility in the region with the latest equipment specifically designed to facilitate the cleaning of all channels.

Peninsula Endoscopy Centre has an unblemished safety record of more than 20 years.

    Are you at risk?

• Has a family member had bowel cancer or polyps?

• Any blood with your bowel motion?

• Persistent change in bowel habits?