Privacy Policy

Friendship Square Medical is the trading name of FSMC Nominees Pty Ltd (ACN 691 093 393) as trustee for Friendship Square Medical Centre Unit Trust (ABN 52 679 510 166) ("Friendship Square Medical", "we", "our" or "us"). We operate a medical clinic and maintain a website under the domain name friendshipmedical.com.au ("Website").

We recognise the importance of maintaining the privacy of the personal information of the individuals we deal with in conducting our business.

This Privacy Policy applies to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by Friendship Square Medical, and is made in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles which apply to Friendship Square Medical pursuant to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) ("Privacy Act") and the Health Privacy Principles which apply pursuant to the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) ("Health Records Act").

In the event of inconsistency between this Privacy Policy and the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act, the Privacy Act or Health Records Act will prevail.

How is personal information collected by Friendship Square Medical?

Friendship Square Medical generally collects personal information from you directly, for example when you:

  • enter our clinic;

  • contact us to enquire about our services or to book an appointment, whether by telephone, email or using our online booking platform, which is operated by AutoMed, or in person at our clinic;

  • complete our New Patient Registration Form, usually before your first consultation, using either AutoMed’s online form or a paper-based form; and/or

  • attend a consultation and disclose personal information to a doctor or other health professional.

We sometimes also collect personal information from other sources, such as from:

We will take reasonable steps to notify you about our collection of your personal information, and will provide all relevant information prescribed under the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act.

We will only collect personal information by lawful and fair means. We will destroy or de-identify any personal information we receive if we would not ordinarily be permitted to collect that information under the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act.

What kinds of personal information are collected by Friendship Square Medical?

The personal information we may collect includes:

  • your name and date of birth;

  • general contact information such as your address, telephone number and email address;

  • your ethnic background;

  • your profession, occupation or job title;

  • your Medicare number, Veterans’ Affairs number, Health Care Card number or Pensioner Concession Card Number, your private health insurance details, and your Individual Healthcare Identifier, if any;

  • your current and past medical history, including your family medical history, current medications and/or treatments you are using, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history and risk factors;

  • your next of kin and/or emergency contact;

  • images (including photos, videos, x-rays and scans);

  • details of the health services you acquire from us;

  • the name of any health service provider or medical specialist who we refer you to or who refers you to us, and copies of any referral letters and reports;

  • audio recordings of incoming phone calls;

  • video recordings from security cameras in the reception area and hallways of our clinic;

  • financial information including bank account and credit card details to process payments; and

  • any queries you have, and our response to those queries.

What happens if we don’t collect your personal information, or if you want to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym?

If you do not provide us with the personal information described above:

  • your diagnosis and treatment may be inaccurate or incomplete; and/or

  • you may not be able to claim Medicare benefits or private health insurance rebates for services we provide; and/or

  • you may not be able to be issued with referrals or prescriptions; and/or

  • we may not be able to provide the requested services to you properly, or we may not be able to provide services to you at all.

You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym, unless it is impracticable for us to do so or unless we are required or authorised by law to only deal with identified individuals. We note in most cases it will be impracticable for us to provide you with healthcare with you remaining anonymous or using a pseudonym, for the reasons described above.

How is personal information used by Friendship Square Medical?

We will use the personal information we collect from you to provide you with the services that you have requested or otherwise to enable us to carry out our business as a medical clinic. This includes:

  • supplying health services to you;

  • sending you reminders about your booked consultations or follow-up consultations you need to book;

  • sending you electronic prescription tokens (eScripts) and eReferrals for pathology or radiology via SMS or email;

  • responding to your queries and to deal with any complaints you may have;

  • for administrative and billing purposes;

  • marketing including email marketing, promotional and educative activities;

  • ensuring compliance with our statutory obligations;

  • monitoring the safety and security of the clinic’s public areas;

  • quality improvement activities, the monitoring the performance of our business and clinical audits; and

  • to meet obligations of notification to our medical defence organisations or insurers.

When we collect personal information about you, we will not use that information for any purpose other than the primary purpose for which it is collected, except as otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy or as permitted or required by the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act.

How is personal information disclosed by Friendship Square Medical?

We may disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:

  • as discussed with you in a consultation;

  • to our employees, our medical professionals and allied health practitioners who provide medical services to you at our clinic, contractors or service providers for the purposes of operation of our business, fulfilling requests by you, and to otherwise provide products and services to you including, without limitation, web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, and professional advisors such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants;

  • to other health services providers, for example in referring you to them as a patient (such as specialists, hospitals, allied health professionals), to pharmacies for medications, or where you request a transfer of your medical records;

  • to government agencies, when required to by law (including Medicare, WorkCover authorities, the Transport Accident Commission, the Australian Immunisation Register and the National Cancer Screening Register);

  • when it is required or authorised by law, such as:

  • in response to court subpoena;

  • to assist in locating a missing person;

  • when it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent; or

  • where the law requires notification of a particular disease;

  • to your private health insurer, for the purpose of you obtaining rebates;

  • to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim, or for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process;

  • to suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes; and

  • to your employer or prospective employer, their authorised representatives and their insurer in the case of a work-related consultation or service.

If we need to contact you for an important healthcare issue and are unable to (for example to discuss a significant test result), we may contact your next of kin and/or emergency contact to see if they can assist us in getting in touch with you. Alternatively, we might access your My Health Record, from which we may be able to confirm that you are getting the healthcare you need and/or forward your results to your current healthcare providers.

We report patient data to our primary health network (SEMPHN) to use for population health and research purposes, however all such data is de-identified. If you do not wish to have your de-identified data reported, please notify us to opt-out.

If Friendship Square Medical sells all or part of its business operations to another party, our client database may form part of the sale such that personal information is disclosed to the new owner of the business.

Friendship Square Medical will not otherwise use or disclose any information about you without your consent, except as otherwise required or permitted under the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act. Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so.

We do not disclose personal information to any recipients located outside Australia except as required or permitted under the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act.

Personal information about children under 16

Normally, a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 16 will have a right to medical information about that child.

However, there may be circumstances where medical information about a child is withheld from the child’s parents and guardians if necessary, to protect the right of a child to privacy. This will depend on our assessment of the level of the child’s understanding and intelligence to understand the various considerations in the particular circumstances.

Does Friendship Square Medical use personal information for direct marketing communications?

We may contact you using the contact details which you provide to us in order to provide you with direct marketing communications about our services and business. This includes a quarterly email newsletter and SMS messages advising updates, such as a new doctor commencing or the availability of annual flu vaccines.

We will comply with our obligations under Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth) in relation to such direct marketing communications.

You may opt out of receiving direct marketing communications from us at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions in the communication, or by contacting us using the details set out below.

How does Friendship Square Medical store personal information?

We will take all reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

We store personal information we collect on on-site servers, and cloud-based backup servers located in Australia.

We also use the following secure cloud-based storage facilities:

  • our security camera provider, Arlo, to store video recordings from security cameras (used for safety and security, and stored for no more than 30 days);

  • our phone provider, Switch Telecom, to store audio recordings of incoming phone calls (used for quality and training purposes, and stored for no more than 30 days); and

  • Lyrebird Health, to help transcribe consultations into clinical notes (however no information from a consult is stored once it has concluded).

We do not generally store hardcopies of documents – hardcopies are scanned and saved into our electronic patient health information system and the originals are destroyed. Hardcopies of confidential documents that are retained are stored in locked filing cabinets.

Our electronic patient health information system is accessed by our practitioners and other staff using unique logins with secure passwords known only to the specific user. User settings mean that staff are only able to access the types of information they need to access to in order to perform their duties. We require our employees and contractors to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we hold.

We are generally required to retain health information for at least seven years after the last occasion on which we provided a health service to you. If you were under 18 when the health service was last provided, we are generally required to retain the information until you turn 25.

If we determine that we no longer require your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to dispose of it securely.

How can I access, change or delete Friendship Square Medical's records of my personal information?

You may request access to our records of your personal information by contacting us using the details set out below. We will generally make your information available to you within 14 days of receiving your request. However, we may require you to pay a reasonable charge for access. We also reserve the right to refuse you access to your information in certain circumstances if permitted by the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act.

Friendship Square Medical will use its best endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If you wish to update your personal information, please contact Friendship Square Medical using the details set out below to request an amendment to your record. Where it is established that personal information we hold about you is not accurate or up-to-date, we will take all steps necessary to amend it. In some cases, we may disagree that there are grounds for amendment, in which case we will add a note to the relevant section of our records stating that you disagree with that information.

Changes to the Friendship Square Medical Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you of the changes by publishing an updated version of the policy on our Website.

How can I make a query or complaint about privacy?

If you have any enquiries about this Privacy Policy or wish to make a complaint about a matter relating to privacy, please contact us using the details set out below:

  • write to us at:

Justin Meyer, Privacy Officer
Friendship Square Medical
89-91 Cavanagh Street
CHELTENHAM VIC 3192

Friendship Square Medical takes complaints seriously, and upon receipt will examine the complaint and instigate internal procedures to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act and the Health Records Act. We will endeavour to respond to any complaints within 30 days of submission.

You may also contact the following organisations with any privacy related complaints, or see their websites more details:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Website: www.oaic.gov.au

Health Complaints Commissioner
Level 15, 50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: 1300 582 113
Email: hcc@hcc.vic.gov.au
Website: https://hcc.vic.gov.au

Generally, these organisations will require you to give us time to respond to your complaint before they will investigate.

Version 1.0

Effective date: 20 July 2026