Privacy Policy

Last updated: 21 October 2026

Northern Doctors is a general practice operated by Northern Doctors Pty Ltd (ABN 36 699 684 985) at 192 Park Terrace, Salisbury Plain SA 5109. This policy explains how we handle your personal information, including your health information, whether you are a patient, a carer, or a visitor to this website. We follow the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

What we collect

Your name, date of birth, gender, address, phone number, and email address.
Your Medicare, DVA, pension, or health fund details, and your healthcare identifiers.
Your health information: medical history, medicines, allergies, immunisations, test results, family and social history, and notes from your visits.
Whether you identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and your cultural or language needs, if you choose to tell us.
Your emergency contact and, where relevant, your carer, guardian, or substitute decision-maker.
If you contact us through this website, the details you type into the form or email, such as your name, contact details, and your message.

You can ask to deal with us anonymously or under another name. We will agree where we lawfully and practically can. We need your identity to claim Medicare benefits or to prescribe some medicines.

How we collect it

From you, when you register, book online or by phone, contact us through this website, or during consultations, including telehealth.
From someone responsible for you, such as a parent or guardian.
From other health services involved in your care: other doctors, specialists, hospitals, pathology and imaging providers, pharmacists, and My Health Record.
From Medicare, DVA, or the Australian Immunisation Register, when needed for your care or billing.

This website, cookies, and online booking

This website may use cookies and similar tools to remember your settings and to measure how the site is used, such as which pages are visited and from what type of device. This information does not identify you. You can block cookies in your browser settings, and the site will still work.

Online bookings are made through HotDoc, a separate company. When you book, you leave our website and enter your details on HotDoc's system, which HotDoc handles under its own privacy policy. HotDoc sends your booking to us. Online booking is not for emergencies or urgent problems. In an emergency call 000.

This website may link to other websites. We are not responsible for how they handle your information.

Security cameras

Security cameras record pictures, without sound, at the clinic entrance and in the car park areas. They are there for the safety of patients and staff and the security of the building. Signs show where cameras operate. There are no cameras in consulting or treatment rooms. Footage is kept for 30 days and then overwritten, unless it is saved for an incident, a complaint, or a legal request. You can ask for footage of yourself by contacting the Privacy Officer.

Why we collect, use, and share it

We use your information to provide your health care and to run the practice. That includes billing and Medicare claims, reminders and recalls, quality improvement, accreditation, staff training, and meeting our legal duties.

We share your information only:

with other health professionals and services involved in your care, including through referrals, e-prescriptions, and My Health Record. Tell us if you do not want a document uploaded to My Health Record.
with Medicare, DVA, the Australian Immunisation Register, and other government bodies when required.
when the law requires or allows it, for example mandatory reporting of a child at risk, notifiable diseases, a court order, or to lessen a serious threat to someone's life, health, or safety.
with businesses that help us run the practice, such as our IT, booking, and messaging providers. They must keep your information confidential and secure.
with anyone else only with your consent, for example an insurer or employer.

We do not sell your information. We do not use it for marketing without your consent.

We give de-identified information to Adelaide PHN to help improve health services, as part of a national quality improvement program. It cannot identify you. Tell reception if you do not want your de-identified information included.

How we store and protect it

Your record is kept electronically in our clinical software, hosted on secure servers in New South Wales, Australia. Paper documents are scanned into your record and then securely destroyed. Each staff member has their own login and can see only what their role requires. All staff sign a confidentiality agreement. Our systems are backed up and protected by security controls that we review regularly.

We keep adult records for at least 7 years after your last visit. We keep children's records until the person turns 25. We then destroy or de-identify records securely.

How we contact you

We may contact you by phone, SMS, email, or post about appointments, results, and reminders. Our SMS service cannot receive replies, so please phone us instead. Email and SMS are not fully secure. Tell us if you do not want us to use them.

Information sent overseas

Your medical record is stored in Australia. Some of our service providers, such as our online booking provider, use their own providers in the United States and the United Kingdom, who may handle limited information such as your contact details and booking history. We take reasonable steps to make sure they protect it. Our AI scribe provider, Lyrebird Health, processes and stores information in Australia. Our phone system provider, Zoom, may handle limited information outside Australia, which may include the United States, such as phone numbers and call times. We do not record phone calls, and we do not use Zoom to store health information.

Decisions made by computer programs

We do not use computer programs to make decisions that significantly affect you. A clinician makes every decision about your care. With your consent, your doctor may use an AI scribe (Lyrebird Health) to help write the notes of your consultation. It turns what is said into a draft note, which your doctor checks and corrects before it goes into your record. The provider states that the audio is not kept, that drafts are deleted from its systems after 7 days by default, that the information is stored in Australia, and that it is not used to train AI models. You can say no at any time, and your care will not be affected.

Seeing and correcting your information

You can ask to see or get a copy of your record, or ask us to correct it. Write to the Privacy Officer using the details below. We will confirm your identity first. We will respond within 30 days. Asking is free. We may charge a reasonable fee for copying and sending records, and we will tell you the amount first. If we cannot give you access or make a correction, we will tell you why in writing. You can ask us to attach a statement to your record.

If you move to another practice, we will transfer a copy or summary of your record when we receive your signed request.

If something goes wrong

If your information is lost, or accessed or disclosed without authority, and serious harm is likely, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. We will also tell you what we are doing about it and what you can do.

Complaints

If you have a privacy concern, please tell us first. Write to the Privacy Officer. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied, you can contact:

the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: oaic.gov.au or 1300 363 992
the Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner (South Australia): hcscc.sa.gov.au or 1800 232 007

Changes to this policy

We review this policy every 12 months and whenever our practices change. The current version is always on this page, with the date it was last updated.

Contact

Privacy Officer, Northern Doctors, 192 Park Terrace, Salisbury Plain SA 5109. Phone (08) 7372 8203. Email [email protected]. A printed copy of this policy is available free at reception.