PRIVACY POLICY
Christchurch PsychMed Privacy and Managing Health Information Policy
Current as of 24/09/23
Reviewed and updated May 2026
Introduction
This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient/client, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our practice, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties.
Christchurch PsychMed, as a service company that provides room rental and administration and reception services to mental health clinicians operating as independent Private Practitioners, collects relevant information to allow the clinicians within this practice to provide the best care for you. Each clinician within Christchurch PsychMed operates as an independent private practitioner who adheres to the Christchurch PsychMed Privacy Policy and Procedures. Health information that is collected by your clinician may be securely stored within Christchurch PsychMed’s electronic practice management system or as hardcopy information by your clinician. In addition, each practitioner has their own privacy policy that outlines how they maintain the privacy of the information they collect about individual patients/clients.
Why and when your consent is necessary?
When you register as a patient/client of Christchurch PsychMed, you provide consent for our clinicians and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Only staff who need to see your personal information will have access to it. If we need to use your information for anything else, we will seek additional consent from you to do this.
Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?
Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your welbeing. We use demographic information for directly related business activities such as booking appointments financial claims and payments, and business processes (e.g. staff training).
What personal information do we collect?
The information we collect about you includes your:
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names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
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medical information including medical history and medications
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NHI number when necessary
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health insurance details when necessary.
How do we collect your personal information?
Our practice may collect your personal information in several different ways.
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When we receive a referral from your GP or other referrer requesting for you to be seen by a clinician at this practice we collect your personal and demographic information contained in this referral. We may also correspond with the referrer asking them to provide additional information to assist our triage process. This might include information about previous psychiatric assessment or treatment you have had, the context leading to the need for this referral and the results of laboratory, radiology or other tests etc.
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When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information through the registration process.
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We may also collect your personal information when you visit our website, send us an email, SMS, or telephone us.
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Any email correspondence that you send to us, or that others send to us about you, will also be held electronically.
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By accepting health care services from us, you agree we can collect information about you from other agencies for the purpose of maintaining an up-to-date health record and providing safe and quality primary health care. This may include:
From other health providers and shared health records:
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Receipt of laboratory, radiology or other results
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Accessing authorised national or regional health information systems to support your care by checking your medical history, laboratory or radiology results and current prescribing
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Receipt of correspondence from hospitals, emergency departments, after-hours providers, specialist services, allied health providers or other secondary and community care providers – including discharge summaries, outpatient or specialist letters
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Proactively contacting a hospital or specialist service to follow up on a referral or seek advice or an update on your care, where that contact results in information about you being shared with us
From non-health agencies and organisations:
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Contact from or correspondence with Police, legal representatives, New Zealand Defence Force/Veterans Affairs, insurance companies, Ministry of Social Development (Work and Income New Zealand) and the Accident Compensation Corporation
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Receipt of correspondence from employers, regarding, for example, fitness to work
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Information from the New Zealand Police regarding firearms licences
When, why and with whom do we share your personal information?
We sometimes share your personal information:
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when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. court subpoenas)
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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
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to assist in locating a missing person
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to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
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for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
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if concerns are raised about the care or services we provide, we may disclose relevant health information to our regulators, insurers, indemnity providers, or legal advisers for the purpose of managing and responding to the concerns.
Only people who need to access your information will be able to do so. Our practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent.
We will not share your personal information with anyone outside New Zealand (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.
Our practice will not use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing.
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information may be stored at our practice in various forms such as paper records and electronic records within our patient management system.
Our practice stores all personal information securely. Electronic data is stored within password protected and encrypted information technology systems and hard copy documentation is stored within a secured environment including secure filing cabinets. Hard copy files are destroyed using secure destruction methods.
How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.
Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing and our practice will respond within 10 working days.
Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. From time to time, we will ask you to verify that your personal information held by our practice is correct and current. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing to info@christchurchpsychmed.co.nz
How can you lodge a privacy-related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled at our practice?
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing. A complaints form is available from reception. You can access this by emailing info@christchurchpsychmed.co.nz and requesting a complaint form. Your complaint will be managed in accordance with Right 10 of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights.
Complaints should be emailed to office@christchurchpsychmed.co.nz or addressed to:
Practice Manager,
Christchurch PsychMed,
169 Innes Road,
St Albans,
Christchurch 8052.
Phone. 033561150
Initial receipt of the complaint will be notified via email within 5 working days of receiving the complaint. Please note that all clinicians working at Christchurch PsychMed are independent Private Practitioners. As such, Christchurch PsychMed cannot act on behalf of and is not responsible for the actions of any clinician. We will endeavor, however, to work with you and the clinician concerned to reach a prompt resolution to your issue. If your complaint is about the reception staff then this complaint will be managed by Christchurch PsychMed.
If you are not satisfied with how we have dealt with the complaint, you may contact the Privacy Commissioner at:
Privacy Commissioner
Level 13, WHK Tower
51-53 Shortland Street
Auckland 1140
New Zealand
Telephone 0800 803 909
Email enquiries@privacy.org.nz
Privacy and our website
User-Provided Information:
You provide us certain information about yourself, such as your name, email address, and other personally identifiable information (all referred to as “Personal Information”) if you fill in any of the forms available on our website. If you correspond with us by email, we may retain the content of your email messages, your email addresses and our responses.
Information Collected Through Cookies and Other Technologies:
Cookies are small text files that are downloaded by your computer when you access and use our website. Cookies might be used to analyse user activity in order to improve the Service and Website. Cookies uniquely identify your computer and provide us with your user activity. This activity includes information such as the pages of the Website that you visit, the time and date of the visit, how much time is spent on those pages and other statistics.
Policy review statement
This Privacy Statement was last updated in May 2026 and is subject to ongoing review. You may also obtain a copy of this statement by clicking here.