V Pharmacy is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 of the Commonwealth of Australia because we are an organisation as defined by that Act and hold personal information.

 
Why we have this policy

This policy statement has been prepared to help us to comply with our privacy obligations under the National Privacy Principles for the purposes of the Act and to inform you about your privacy rights.

 
About the information we hold

To help meet your health care needs we may hold and use records, including you name and address details, your medication record and other health care information that you or your treating doctor or other health practitioner may need to supply us. This personal information will be used only for the purposes of meeting your health care needs, unless you consent to its use for other purposes, or the law permits its use for other purposes.

For some transactions we will not need to collect any personal information.

If we hold information about you for a customer loyalty club - such as a baby club or photo club - this information may be used for direct marketing. If you do not wish to receive marketing communications you can tell us and we will take steps to have your name removed from the marketing list connected with us.

Much of the information we collect must be collected because the law requires it. For example, details of your prescriptions are required to be collected under the National Health Act and State or Territory Pharmacy legislation. You need to be aware that if you do not provide us with certain information about yourself, in some circumstances we may be unable to provide a service that you require.

 
Our disclosure and information practices

The personal information we hold is stored in a secure manner. We do not routinely disclose your personal information to any other person or organisation, although we may need to provide information to other health service providers if it is necessary to help us to provide services to you.

 
Special pharmaceutical services and activities

Some activities such as Domiciliary Medication Management Review (Home Medicines Review) or pharmaceutical research will have privacy practices and consent forms specific to the activity. If we are part of the team involved in that activity, we are required to meet our privacy obligations for that activity whether they arise under the Act or otherwise.

 
How you can gain access to information

You can request access to personal information we may hold about you. If you make such a request, we will ask you to complete a form for this purpose. Most of the information we hold comes from the prescriptions presented to us. There is no charge for lodging a request to access your information. We may make a small charge, however, for our time involved in providing this access and for associated costs such as photocopying.

 
Complaints

If you have a concern please raise it with us first as we may be able to resolve the issue. You can speak to the pharmacist in charge or send us a note to the above address. If you are still concerned, you may lodge a formal complaint with the Privacy Commissioner at:

Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 1042.