![](https://www.vickersteamcare.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/computer-300x200.jpg)
It is extremely important that we protect your information and privacy and do not share any information about you or your child without your permission.
Sharing information with other professionals
There are times when sharing information can be important
General practice
In general practice, we work with other health professionals to provide the best possible care. When we refer you with your consent to a specialist or allied health professional, we take that as permission to share information with the other health professional. We will only share information that would be in the best interests of the care of you or your child. You need to let us know at any time if there is anyone or any information that you do not want shared with another healthcare professional.
Speech therapy
As part of the assessment and therapy for you or your child, it may help the speech pathologist to talk to and share information with other professionals involved in you or your child’s care (e.g., teacher, principal, GP, OT, paediatrician). They will only share information with the nominated people on the annual information sheet. They will only ever share information relevant to your or your child’s care. If you change your mind about the people you have nominated at any time, let us know, and we will update the form.
Use of e-mail and SMS
More and more information is now shared by e-mail between health providers and between patients/clients and our practice. Although it is unlikely, there is always a risk that the e-mail is not secure and someone else may access this information. Please let us know at any time if you would like us to password protect any documents or prefer us to communicate only by phone /post/in person.
We are using SMS more and more to remind patients/clients or upcoming appointments. We will be ensuring we have your permission to do so. Please let us know at any time if you are unhappy to receive an SMS.
Protecting your personal information
We have a very comprehensive plan to protect our computers so that no one not involved in your care can ever access your medical information. This includes passwords, firewalls and other computer security to prevent hacking of computers.
We never save any documents with patients names on the cloud
We all know how terrible it can be if a computer crashes and everything is lost. We have a comprehensive backup plan in place to ensure that we never lose your medical information.
Photo by Philipp Katzenberger on Unsplash