Your Privacy

We are very serious about providing our patients with high levels of privacy. 

We are lucky that our facility lends itself very well to this cause, it is “tucked away” in a residential area and doesn’t have lots of passing traffic.

We consider the following steps protect our patient’s privacy very well:

• The doctor/patient/practice - confidentiality and trust is something we take very seriously. We know this is something that is very important to our patients and it is very important to us.
• Our computers have passwords and are backed up in several ways, using internationally respected methods for data protection.
• Our waiting room has music playing so that conversations at the front desk are not easily overheard.
• The reception desk is away from the waiting area.
• We have very few staff and these are all vetted prior to working for us.
• Our staff are all experienced and respected workers in their fields with many years of experience in the private medical field.
• Our staff have all signed binding confidentiality clauses in their employment contracts.
• Our computer service company has signed a confidentiality clause as part of our contract with them.
• We have a choice of 2 private hospitals for our patients to choose from, to enhance their need for privacy during surgery.
• Some surgery can be carried out under local anaesthetic at our facility.
• We carry out many types of surgery at our facility in Naseby Street.  Patients can feel quite comfortable that any other patients in the waiting room will have no idea whether others are there for skin cancer surgery, reconstructive surgery, cosmetic surgery or non surgical treatments.
• Our clinic has been awarded ‘Day Surgery Standards’ - a certificate which can only be held by medical practices who go through the rigorous methodology required to run an accredited facility.  We have protocols for all known issues that may arise in a medical practice and patient privacy is one of those protocols. We are audited each year to ensure that we still meet the required standards to be considered a Day Surgery Facility.

Photographs:

• Photographs will be taken only with your full permission.
• Photographs are stored and backed up digitally, using at least 2 levels of password protection.
• Some patients give us written permission to show, unnamed, photographs to other patients during consultations as examples of results they might expect.  However, there is absolutely no requirement or expectation that our patients will give us such permission. 
• Some patients are happy to allow us to put their unnamed photographs on our website as examples to help other patients decide if they could benefit from certain surgeries.  We very carefully match the written permissions before using such photos and can often disguise the patient’s identity should our patient prefer.
• Contrary to the information on some websites, the Medical Council of New Zealand encourages surgeons to show their surgical results to patients as part of the consenting process.  Patients often find it difficult to imagine what they might expect from their surgery.