Confidentiality and its limits will be explained at the beginning of the appointment: information about you and your family will be kept confidential and can be shared with other professionals or other family members if a person who is legally able to consent to this provides consent. This may be you or a legal guardian, such as a parent or other person who holds parental responsibility. Consent is usually requested in writing and will be discussed with you / your parents beforehand.
An important exception to confidentiality is if there is a safety issue, such as risk to you or others. We would then normally discuss this at the time to keep things safe. Another exception is that if there are legal issues at any point in the future, then a Court can subpoena the file or subpoena Dr Parkin as a witness. This means that the Court can require Dr Parkin to provide the clinical file and/or attend Court to provide evidence.
All information kept about you electronically and on paper will be held securely at the clinic from where I practice, locked or under keyword protection on locked premises. A letter summarising the assessment and planned treatment is routinely sent to the referring doctor, which complies with Medicare regulations and good practice, and may be copied to parents / carers and health professionals invovled.
Disclosure, copying, and distribution of this information will not be made without your prior consent, unless required by law. Privacy and confidentiality between family members is also respected.
Your rights are protected under the Australian Privacy Act 1988, the NSW Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, and the NSW Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002.