Privacy Policy

The Dental Studio at Molonglo (“we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information, including health information, and how you can access and correct it. It applies to our practice at 76 Steve Irwin Ave, Wright ACT 2611, and to our website at molonglodentist.com.au.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, and the Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997 (ACT), where it applies.

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who can reasonably be identified, whether or not the information is true. Health information is a type of personal information and includes information about your health, the dental care we provide to you, and your wishes about future care. We treat health information as sensitive information and take extra care with it.

Active Collection:

We collect information that you give us when you make an enquiry or book an appointment, complete a patient or health form, or contact us by phone, email or the website. This may include your name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, Medicare and private health fund details, emergency contact, and health and dental history. We may collect images, including X-rays and clinical photographs, as part of your care.

Information collected when you use our website

When you visit our website we may automatically collect technical information such as your IP address, browser type, device, the pages you view and the website you came from. We may use cookies and similar technologies, and analytics and advertising tools, to understand how the website is used and to improve it. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but some parts of the website may not work as intended.

Please do not include detailed health information in website forms or email. If you need to give us health information, please tell us at your appointment or by phone.

We use personal information collected through our Site for the purposes described in this Policy or elsewhere on the Site. For example, we may use personal information we collect:

• provide dental care and manage your treatment, records and appointments
• process payments, claims and enquiries about payment plans
• respond to your enquiries and send appointment reminders and follow-up messages
• meet our legal, professional and insurance obligations
• operate, secure and improve our website and services and
• with your consent, send you information about our services and offers. You can opt out at any time

We use or disclose your personal information for other purposes only where you have consented, where it is related to the purpose for which it was collected and you would reasonably expect it, or where the law requires or permits it.

• other health practitioners, laboratories, radiology providers and specialists involved in your care, with your consent
• your private health fund, Medicare, or other payers, to process claims
• finance providers if you apply for a payment plan, for example Humm Group (you apply to the provider directly)
• service providers who help us run the practice or website, such as IT, practice management software, appointment reminder, cloud storage and marketing services, under privacy obligations
• professional indemnity insurers and legal and financial advisers and
• regulators, courts and other authorities, where the law requires.

Some of our service providers may store information on servers outside Australia. Where this happens we take reasonable steps to make sure the information is handled in line with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Our website may link to other websites, such as health funds, finance providers and social media. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. Please read their privacy policies before giving them your personal information.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These include secure systems, access controls, staff training and confidentiality obligations. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, so please take care when sending information to us.

We keep health records for the period required by law, which for adults is at least seven years from the date of last attendance, and for children until they turn 25. After that we securely destroy or de-identify the records.

If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

You may ask to access or correct the personal information we hold about you. Please contact us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable time, and we may need to confirm your identity first. In limited cases, the law allows us to refuse access, and we will tell you why.

You may opt out of marketing messages at any time by using the unsubscribe link in the message or by contacting us. We will still send you messages about your appointments and care.

We display clinical photographs only with the written consent of the patient shown. You can withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, and we will remove the images from our website and marketing where we reasonably can.

If you have a question about this policy, want to access or correct your information, or want to make a complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer.

The Dental Studio at Molonglo
76 Steve Irwin Ave, Wright ACT 2611
Phone: (02) 6105-9291
Email: info@molonglodentist.com.au

We will respond to your complaint in writing within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or 1300 363 992. You can also contact the ACT Human Rights Commission about health records.

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version is always on this page, with the date it was last updated at the top.