Ren Cosmedical is committed to providing quality services to you and this Privacy Policy outlines our ongoing obligations to you on how we manage your personal information. Ren Cosmedical complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.
Introduction
Ren Cosmedical (website url address: https://rencosmedical.com.au) appreciates your business and trust. We are a Canberra based cosmetic medical clinic in Australian Capital Territory, providing cosmetic medical treatments that are tailored to your cosmetic and medical needs. Please read this Privacy Policy, providing consent to both documents in order to have permission to use our services. This Privacy Policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which includes your health information, cosmetic medical and skin history, payment history, treatment details, before and after photographs, credit card and/or bank account details, emergency contact details, guardian details, etc.) is collected and used within our cosmetic clinic, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties. Our cosmetic clinic will only collect personal information that is provided voluntarily by a patient or prospective patient as we will not collect or monitor any personal information about an individual without their consent.
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient of our cosmetic clinic, you provide consent for our General Practitioners, Cosmetic Medicine Physician and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible cosmetic medical services and healthcare. Only staff who need to see your personal information will have access to it. We may also use the information for marketing to you or for any other purpose permitted under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). 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 cosmetic clinic will need to collect your personal information to enable us to provide cosmetic medical services, healthcare and sale of goods to you. You are not obligated to provide personal information. However, failure to do so may result in our cosmetic clinic being unable to provide services or products to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your aesthetic needs and healthcare. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, business processes (eg staff training), marketing (social media, website) and education purposes, provide information about products, services and /or special offers, to obtain opinion and comments about product and/or services, and record statistical data for marketing analysis and training purposes. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing using the contact details available on our website.
What personal information does our cosmetic clinic 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
- notes made during the course of all cosmetic and medical consultations
- images of before and after treatment(s)/procedure(s)
- video recordings of treatment(s)/procedure(s)
- referrals to other health service providers
- results and reports received from other health services
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 cosmetic clinic may collect your personal information in several different ways.
- When you make your first appointment, our cosmetic clinic staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
- During the course of providing cosmetic medical services, we may collect further personal information.via (including but not limited to), My Health Record, Hot Doc appointment system, Lightroom and MediRecords.
- We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, 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; and your health fun, Medicare, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (as necessary).
- We also collect personal information such as images and/or video recordings of you before and after treatment(s)/procedure(s) using our photographic equipment for our cosmetic clinic records and reference, with your consent.
When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?
We sometimes share your personal information:
- with third parties who work with our cosmetic clinic 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 (eg 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 (eg some diseases require mandatory notification)
- during the course of providing medical services, through eTP, My Health Record (eg via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary)
- for contact tracing for Covid-19 compliance.
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 cosmetic clinic 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 cosmetic clinic 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 cosmetic clinic in writing.
Our cosmetic clinic may use your personal information to improve the quality of the services we offer to our patients through research and analysis of our patient data.
We may provide de-identified data to other organisations to improve population health outcomes. The information is secure, patients cannot be identified and the information is stored within Australia. You can let our reception staff know if you do not want your information included.
We can de-identify images or videos of before and after treatment(s)/procedure(s), which may be used for educational or marketing purposes. You can let our reception staff know or put this request in writing using the contact details provided on our website if you prefer complete anonymity, or any change of mind, anytime.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our cosmetic clinic in various formats; digital format in secure servers and hardcopy format in locked and controlled areas. Our cosmetic clinic takes all reasonable steps to keep and protect your personal information recorded from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. All Ren Cosmedical staff are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by Ren Cosmedical.
Our cosmetic clinic will also take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your personal information when your personal information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, or when your personal information is no longer required by law to keep. However, most of the personal information is or will be stored in client files, which will be kept by our cosmetic clinic for a minimum of 7 years.
How can you access and correct your personal information at our cosmetic clinic?
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.
Our cosmetic clinic acknowledges patients may request access to their cosmetic and medical records. We require you to put this request in writing using the contact details provided on our website and our cosmetic clinic will respond within a reasonable time (30 days). There may be fees associated with providing this information to cover the cost of complying with the request. The fees will not be excessive and will be advised to patient after making the request.
Our cosmetic clinic 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 cosmetic clinic is correct and current. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing using the contact details provided on our website.
How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled at our cosmetic clinic?
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any complaints and/or privacy concerns you may have in writing using the contact details provided on our website. We will then investigate any complaints received in writing and attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure (within 30 days).
If you are not satisfied with the result of your complaint to us, you may 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.
Privacy and our website
We may use cookies and web logs on our website to improve its functionality.
Cookies are a small text file that our websites may place on your computer or mobile devices, and collect information such as your Internet Protocol address, your computer’s operating system, browser type and traffic patterns, and your user name or email address. You may adjust your Internet browser to disable cookies, or inform you when one is being used. If you choose to disable cookies, you may be unable to access certain areas of our website.
Sometimes our website contains links to other websites for your convenience and information. When you access a website other than ours, we are not responsible for the security and privacy practices of that site. We do not provide any of your personal information to these sites nor does any such information automatically pass to them with the linkage. Before you disclose any personal information for the other site, you should read the terms of use and privacy policy for that site. You should also be aware that the Internet is not a secure environment, and transmission of personal information over the Internet is at your own risk.
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Policy review statement
This privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is in accordance with any changes that may occur. When this policy is amended, it will be updated on our website and a link to this website will be available and displayed at our cosmetic clinic. Please feel free to ask our staff for a hard copy of our privacy policy if you would like one.