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(Generic) General Practice Policy

A generic policy has been provided to help GPs put the guidelines in the Handbook into action. The policy will need to be customised to the individual GP's patients' and practice needs.

Introduction

The Handbook for the Management of Health Information in Private Medical Practice was published in November 2002. It assists GPs to manage health information in an ethical and legal way in their practices.

This generic policy has been provided at the request of medical practitioners to help them put the guidelines in the Handbook into action.

The generic policy provides the basis for development of a practice policy to meet a practice’s particular needs. It is available in electronic form on the websites of all Medical Colleges. Your College or local Division of General Practice should also be able to email you a copy in Word format. This will assist you to provide clear instructions to your practice staff and can be included in your practice manual.

To ensure that your policy meets appropriate ethical and professional standards you should consult the relevant sections of the Handbook, including the appendix. You should also augment this policy with specific procedures used in your practice to maintain the privacy of personal health information.

There may be some aspects of your policy, which require you to take account of State legislation. For example, issues regarding the age at which children have the right to have their medical record treated as confidential and are able to consent to their own treatment, or requirements to provide access to information within proscribed times may vary between States. You should make sure that your practice policy includes these matters. Where the RACGP is already aware of these issues, they have been included.

In addition to the generic policy, the following documents have been included:

• a template brochure for patients
• a template form for patients who are requesting the transfer of personal information to another practice
• a template confidentiality agreement for staff and contractors
• an information sheet about recall and reminder systems.

All of these documents could be customised for use by your practice.

The RACGP would like to thank Julie Hamblin, Liz de Rome, Halina Hili and Dr Nathan Pinskier for their assistance in developing this generic practice policy.

Your comments suggesting improvements to the generic policy are welcomed, and will be taken into account in developing future drafts. Any feedback should be sent to:

the CEO RACGP
1 Palmerston Crescent
South Melbourne
Victoria 3205

or emailed to ceo@racgp.org.au

Last Modified: 2 April 2003
Authorised By: Workforce and financing