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ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY
The Trustee for Kanwal Trust has a ZERO TOLERANCE for abusive and/or threatening behaviour. A ZERO TOLERANCE approach to any verbal, aggressive and violent abuse and behaviour towards Medical Practitioners, reception staff or patients. This includes shouting, swearing, aggressive actions, threats, inappropriate gestures, and name calling. It is respectfully advised that abuse and/or violence will not be tolerated.
Healthcare Providers and reception staff are here to try their best to provide you with help and support. You will always be treated with courtesy and respect. In return, it is asked that you and anyone that you bring with you to the Practice treat both administrative and clinical team members with the same courtesy and respect.
If a patient or anyone a patient brings with them to the Practice, is abusive, aggressive, or violent towards any Health Care Provider or reception staff and/or other patients they will be required to leave the clinic and transfer their care to another practice. Refusal to leave will result in the police being called.
COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH CARE INITIATED BY THE PRACTICE
Policy The cost of treatment or investigations is an important component of informed decision making. The practice aims to ensure all patients are advised of possible costs involved, including out of pocket costs, for procedures, investigations and treatments provided by the practice prior to them being conducted. The practice endeavours to advise all patients for the potential for out-of-pocket expenses for referral services. Where costs are not known, the patients are encouraged to and/or assisted to make inquiries. If the patient indicates that the costs pose a barrier to the suggested treatment or investigation, alternatives are discussed with the relevant GP.
Policy The practice endeavours to provide patients with access to timely advice or information about their clinical care via the telephone. The urgency of a patients needs are determined promptly. Healthcare Providers and reception staff aim to communicate effectively over the telephone and use simple, straight forward language and check that patients have understood what has been said.
The practice does not offer the ability for a patient to communicate either via email or text message. The practice aims to ensure all patient messages or other communications that require subsequent follow-up by a doctor or other staff member are responded to in a timely manner. All messages from patients, to patients, or about patients become part of the patient’s health record, in addition to any actions taken in response to the message.
Communicating by telephone All telephone calls are answered by a reception team member of the practice who must adhere to the following guidelines:
Follow the practice booking system for all patient appointments
Before any calls are placed on hold ask first if the matter is an emergency
Follow the practice triage system for patients requesting urgent appointments
Be mindful of confidentiality and patient’s right to privacy. No names are openly stated over the telephone within earshot of other patients and/or visitors
Be aware of each doctor’s policy on accepting or returning calls. In non-urgent situations, patient calls need not interrupt consultations with other patients, but a message containing the information is given to the person in a timely manner.
The practice telephones the patients as a friendly reminder of their upcoming appointments for results and recalls. There is no medical or identifying information used in these telephone conversations. If a voice message is left it is the patient’s responsibility to contact the practice and follow up on the message. As of the 10/08/2023 the practice is trialling the HotDocs results and recall function. This policy will be updated accordingly as changes are implemented.
Communication conducted with a patient via the telephone will be added to the patient’s medical record through the integrated message system on Medical Director by the person resolving the enquiry.
The aim is to facilitate optimal communication opportunities with patients. Patients who do not speak or read English or who are more proficient in another language, or who have special communication needs are offered the choice of using the assistance of a language service to communicate with Healthcare Providers.
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Name of social media officer: Practice Manager Policy This policy provides guidance for personnel of the practice on using social media internally and externally. The policy helps identify and mitigate risks associated with social media use. Definition For the purposes of this policy, ‘social media’ is online social networks used to disseminate information through online interaction. Purpose Regardless of whether social media is used for business-related activity or for personal reasons, the following policy requirements apply to all practice staff, contractors, and tenant Medical Practitioners of The Trustee for Kanwal Trust. All practice staff, contractors, and tenant Medical Practitioners of The Trustee for Kanwal Trust are legally responsible for their online activities, and if found to be in breach of this policy termination and/or engagement with the practice for serious breaches may be enforced. Use of practice social media accounts The practice has appointed the Practice Manager alongside the Practice Principal as the social media officer responsible for managing and monitoring the practice’s social media accounts. No other person is permitted to post any content on any social media platform. The practice reserves the right to remove any content at its own discretion. Staff conduct on social media When using the practice’s social media, practice staff will not:
post any material that
is unlawful, threatening, defamatory, pornographic, inflammatory, menacing or offensive
infringes or breaches another person’s rights (including intellectual property rights) or privacy, or misuses the practice’s or another person’s confidential information (eg do not submit confidential information relating to our patients, personal information of staff, or information concerning the practice’s business operations that have not been made public)
is materially damaging or could be materially damaging to the practice’s reputation or image, or another individual
is in breach of any of the practice’s policies or procedures
use social media to send unsolicited commercial electronic messages, or solicit other users to buy or sell products or services or donate money
impersonate another person or entity (eg by pretending to be someone else or another practice employee or other participant when you submit a contribution to social media) or by using another’s registration identifier without permission
tamper with, hinder the operation of, or make unauthorised changes to the social media sites
knowingly transmit any virus or other disabling feature to or via the practice’s social media account, or use in any email to a third party, or the social media site
attempt to do or permit another person to do any of these things
claim or imply that you are speaking on the practice’s behalf, unless you are authorised to do so
disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to the practice, or to any third party that has disclosed information to the practice
be defamatory, harassing or in violation of any other applicable law
include confidential or copyrighted information (eg music, videos, text belonging to third parties)
violate any other applicable policy of the practice.
Monitoring social media sites The practice’s social media channels are part of our customer service and should be monitored and dealt with regularly. The practice’s social media platforms are used for promoting the practice and as a way of communicating updates and changes implemented at each practice and as such all enquiries are responded to and each person is directed to call the surgery directly with their enquiry. Testimonials The practice complies with AHPRA national law and takes reasonable steps to remove testimonials that advertise their health services (which may include comments about the practitioners themselves). The practice is not responsible for removing (or trying to have removed) unsolicited testimonials published on a third-party website or in social media accounts over which they do not have control. Personal social media use Practice staff, contractors, and tenant Medical Practitioners of The Trustee for Kanwal Trust are free to personally engage in social media outside of work hours, as long as their actions do not have the potential to bring the practice into disrepute. Employees may not represent personal views expressed as those of the practice. Any social media posts by practice staff, contractors, and tenant Medical Practitioners of The Trustee for Kanwal Trust on their personal social media platforms must not reveal confidential information about the practice or a person who uses the practice (eg should not post information relating to patients or other personnel, or information concerning the practice’s business operations that have not been made public). Practice staff, contractors, and tenant Medical Practitioners of The Trustee for Kanwal Trust should respect copyright, privacy, fair use, financial disclosure and other applicable laws when publishing on social media platforms. Bullying of any personnel engaged at The Trustee for Kanwal Trust through social media platforms will result in instant dismissal. Breach of policy All social media activities must be in line with this policy. Policy review statement This policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it reflects the current processes and procedures of The Trustee for Kanwal Trust and current legislation requirements.
INTERPRETER AND OTHER COMMUNICATION SERVICES
Policy The practice is committed to ensuring patients with limited English, or loss of hearing, are provided with interpreting or other communication services to assist them to communicate and understand information or recommendations, which are provided by the Healthcare Provider.
The practice also encourages patients with minimal English proficiency, to request language assistance, to ensure any communication barriers are overcome and ensure the delivery of the highest quality service to patients.
The practice is aware that alternative modes of communication may be used by patients with a communication impairment, for example a communication board. The practice aims to support patients and access any services or technology to achieve effective communication with patients. TIS -Translation service https://www.tisnational.gov.au/ National Relay Service https://www.dss.gov.au/contact/national-relay-service Auslan services: 1300 AUSLAN
CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY OF HEALTH AND OTHER INFORMATION
Policy The practice is committed to protecting the privacy of health and other information of patients. The practice ensures patients are informed about how the practice manages their personal and health information. The practice provides access and control over the use of any information.
The practice maintains a comprehensive privacy policy that is made available to all patients to clearly outline how their personal and health information is collected and used within the practice, including the circumstances in which it may be shared with third parties. Transferring relevant patient health information is part of delivering coordinated, comprehensive care and information will only be shared once consent is received.
The practice stores all patient health information and other sensitive documents securely. All electronic records are password protected with individual passwords and log ins and protected and monitored by electronic firewalls. Access to patient health information and other sensitive documents is by authorised personnel only, who are bound by strict privacy and confidentiality agreements. The practice complies with the Privacy Act (1988), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), the Health Records Regulations 2012 (Vic) and the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and acknowledges the importance of protecting the confidentiality and privacy of all patients and recognising the rights of patients in relation to their personal information.