In order to provide you with the highest standard of obstetric care, I will ask for personal information from you. This information covers basic details such as your name, address and telephone number but it is also necessary to know about your general health and past medical or surgical events. Without this general health picture, I am unable to plan your care properly. Naturally, some of this information is of a personal nature and some of it might be regarded as ‘sensitive’ and not the sort of information that you would wish to be necessarily disclosed to others. We value the need to safeguard this information, and in accordance with the principles laid down in privacy legislation and the guidelines issued by the Australian Medical Association, we would like to assure you that:

• This information will only be used to individualise and optimise your care.
• It may sometimes be necessary to disclose some information to other doctors and health professionals involved in your care (midwives or physiotherapists most commonly). They are also bound by the same privacy obligations.
• It is usual practice to communicate with your referring doctor and other specialists involved in your care at the beginning and end of your pregnancy and after pre-pregnancy consultations, as this helps to ensure continuity of care. Please advise us if you do not wish for this to occur.
• Your health information will not be disclosed to anyone not associated with your treatment without your express consent.
• You may seek access to the information held about you and I will provide this access without undue delay. This access might be by inspection of your medical records at the time of appointment or by special access or copying of information at other times.
• There will be no charge made for requesting this information but there may be fees levied to cover the costs associated with the processing of this request or copying of the information.
• I will take reasonable steps to ensure at all times that the details we keep about you are accurate, complete and up to date.
• I will take reasonable steps to protect this information from misuse or loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Our records are stored electronically, on a secure server. All paper-based records that you provide will be scanned and then confidentially shredded.
• My staff is trained to respect these principles at all times.

If you have any questions regarding the information I collect from you, please do not hesitate to ask. I am acting in your interests at all times.