Privacy Policy
Urim Denture Clinic
Last updated: October 2026
1. Introduction
Urim Denture Clinic is committed to best practice in managing the information we collect. This policy explains how we protect patient privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“the Privacy Act”), the Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW). It tells you:
- the kinds of information we collect and hold. Because we are a dental prosthetic practice, most of it is “health information” under the Privacy Act
- how we collect and hold personal information
- why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
- how you can access your personal information and ask us to correct it
- how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, and how we will handle your complaint
2. What kinds of personal information do we collect?
We may collect and hold:
- your name, address, date of birth, email and other contact details
- your Medicare number, DVA number and other government identifiers. We do not use these to identify you within our practice.
- your private health insurance details
- your emergency contact or next of kin details
- other health information about you, including:
- your dental and general medical history, including medications, allergies and relevant health conditions
- notes from your consultations, your diagnosis and the treatment we provide
- clinical photographs, impressions, digital scans and models of your mouth, gums and dentures
- reports and referrals from your dentist, specialists or other health practitioners
- your appointment, treatment plan, quote and billing details
3. How do we collect and hold personal information?
We usually collect personal information:
- directly from you when you give us your details, for example in person, by phone, on a registration or medical history form, through our website contact or booking form, or by email
- from a person responsible for you, such as a guardian, carer or family member
- from third parties where the Privacy Act or another law allows it. This may include your dentist or other treating practitioners, specialists, dental laboratories, aged care facilities, Medicare, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and your health insurer.
4. Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?
In general, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information to:
- provide denture and dental prosthetic services to you
- communicate with you about your treatment, including appointment reminders, recalls and follow-up care
- meet our legal obligations, including record-keeping and mandatory reporting requirements
- manage our accounts and administration, including billing, health fund claims, recovering unpaid accounts and maintaining our IT systems
- consult with your dentist, specialists or other health professionals involved in your care
- arrange for your dentures or appliances to be made by a dental laboratory
- identify you and process insurance, health fund (HICAPS), DVA or government scheme claims
- deal with your health fund and with government and regulatory bodies as needed. These include Medicare, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Dental Board of Australia / Ahpra and, if you make a privacy complaint to it, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
5. When will we disclose your personal information?
- We may share information with our service providers, such as dental laboratories, IT providers, practice management software providers and finance/accounting providers. We only share what they strictly need to do their job, and all of our service providers must comply with privacy laws.
- If a third party, such as an insurer or solicitor, asks for your information, we will not provide it without your current signed authority. The exception is where the law permits or requires us to disclose it, for example in response to a notice from Medicare, a request from the Police, or a subpoena or notice to produce from a court or tribunal.
- We do not sell your personal information or disclose it to overseas recipients.
6. How can you access and correct your personal information?
- You have the right to ask for access to the personal information we hold about you, and to ask us to correct it.
- To access or correct your health record, contact us using the details under “Contact details” below.
- We will normally respond to your request within 30 days.
- We may charge a reasonable fee to cover the administrative cost of retrieving your records and giving you access to them.
- In some limited circumstances we may decline access to your health records. If we do, we will always tell you why and what other options you have.
7. How do we hold your personal information?
Our staff are trained and required to respect and protect your privacy. We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include:
- storing your information in secure practice management software protected by strong passwords and access limited to staff who need it
- keeping paper files in lockable cabinets in areas only authorised staff can enter
- requiring all staff to sign confidentiality agreements
- maintaining a document retention and destruction policy
The law requires us to keep health records for at least 7 years after your last visit. For patients under 18, we keep them until you turn 25.
Once your information is no longer needed for your care and we are no longer legally required to keep it, we will destroy it in a way that keeps it confidential.
8. Our website
- When you contact us or request an appointment through our website, we collect the details you enter only so we can respond to your enquiry.
- Our website may use cookies and analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, to understand how visitors use the site. This information is aggregated and does not identify you personally. You can turn off cookies in your browser settings.
- Our website may link to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites.
9. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- We may use an AI scribe tool to help our clinicians prepare clinical notes, reports and correspondence.
- AI transcription data is encrypted and stored in Australia. The service provider stores the transcription temporarily, for up to [60] days, and then permanently destroys it.
- We will ask for your consent at the start of your appointment before we use the AI scribe tool. Written information about the tool is available on request, and you can withdraw your consent at any time.
- The AI scribe tool complies with Australian privacy laws.
- We only use data from the AI scribe tool to provide healthcare to you.
10. Privacy questions and complaints
- If you have a question about privacy, or want to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles or how we have handled your personal information, please write to us using the details below. We will normally respond within 30 days.
- If you are not satisfied with our response, you can refer the matter to the OAIC:
- Phone: 1300 363 992
- Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
- Online: www.oaic.gov.au
- Post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
11. Updates to this policy
We review this policy from time to time to reflect new laws and technology, changes to our operations and other developments. We will publish any updates on our website.