Terms & Conditions

A legal disclaimer

Kaipara Dental Services – Information for Patients

We are committed to providing you with excellent clinical care. All we ask in return is that you attend any appointments you have booked, act on the advice we give you and report any new symptoms to us promptly.

If you have any questions about our terms and conditions please contact a member of Kaipara Dental Services who will be happy to help you.

PERSONAL DETAILS

It is very important that you give a full medical history and details of any medication you take. Should these change in any way, please tell your Dentist. It is your responsibility to inform the clinic of any changes in either personal details and/or your medical history. It is a requirement that your medical history be updated every two years.

OUR PROMISE OF SERVICE

We will listen carefully to your concerns and perform diagnostic tests in order to compose a full range of appropriate treatment options for you.

TREATMENT ESTIMATES AND CONSENT

We will present your treatment options to you in writing including the estimated fees involved. We will explain the risks and benefits so you can make an informed choice about your treatment and we can gain your consent. If new information comes to light during treatment and your treatment options change, we will explain this to you.

PAYMENT METHODS

We will listen carefully to your concerns and perform diagnostic tests in order to compose a full range of appropriate treatment options for you.

CANCELLATION OF APPOINTMENTS

We request 24hrs notice for all cancellations. Short notice cancellations or failed appointments may incur a fee.

CONFIDENTIALITY

We take patient confidentiality very seriously and all patient information is treated in the strictest confidence in accordance with our practice policy, a copy of which is available on request.

DATA PROTECTION

We will only use your personal information to communicate with you about your care, with other medical professionals in your interests and with your consent, or to tell you about our services. We will not disclose any of your personal information to third parties not engaged in your care. We store all patient personal details securely. All clinical notes and digital imagery remain the property of Kaipara Dental Services. Copies can be made available on request and we reserve the right to charge an administration fee for this.

PATIENTS WITH ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

We have facilities suitable for wheelchairs. If you have any additional special requirements please ask our team for assistance..

CULTURAL COMPETENCE

The staff at Kaipara Dental Services understand that New Zealand has a culturally diverse population. As such we operate with a respect for and an understanding of the cultural beliefs, values, and practices of our patients.

COMMENTS ABOUT OUR SERVICE

We hope that you are pleased with the service and treatment that you receive; if not, please let us know how we can remedy the matter and improve our service. Our complaints procedure is available from any member of our team.

PROCEDURES AND POLICIES

If you would like any further information regarding any of our policies please contact our team, we will be pleased to help

Privacy Policy

Health Information Privacy policy for Kaipara Dental Services

Purposes

This document outlines the practice policy related to the Privacy, in line with the Privacy Act 2020, which promotes and protects the privacy of individual personal information and the Health Information Privacy Code, which specifically relates to the management of health information.

Scope

All staff must comply with the following rules when collecting, using, storing, or disclosing information about patients’ personal or health or the treatment that they are receiving.

Policy

The practice team members will understand, comply with, and implement the requirements of the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, as outlined in this document which state the processes to be followed by the staff in handling personal and health information.

• The practice will collect personal and health information in a manner that complies with the Privacy Act and the Health Information Privacy Code.

  • only collects the information for the purpose of treating the patient or for some other legal purpose;

  • collects the information directly from the patient unless they have consented to you collecting the information from someone else or one of the other exceptions to this rule applies; and 

  • collects information from children and young people in a fair manner

  • let the patient know why you are collecting the information, who will have access to the information and that the patient is entitled to access and correct the information.  You will not need to tell patients this if you have collected the same type of information from them before.

  • Collect information in an unidentifiable way if appropriate

• The practice complies with the Privacy Act and Health Information Privacy Code requirements when using personal and health information.

  • When we have collected personal information from an individual for one purpose, it cannot used for any other purpose without the individual’s consent.

  • There are some exceptions to this principle. These exceptions include where the information is publicly available, or where you use the information in a way that does not identify the individual. You will find a full list of the exceptions to this principle in the Privacy Act .

  • Before using individuals’ personal information, you must do what you can to make sure that the information is accurate and up to date.

• The practice complies with the Privacy Act and Health Information Privacy Code when storing and destroying personal and health information.

  • You must ensure that the personal information that our practice holds is stored securely so that it cannot be accessed or used by unauthorised people. All patient information should be digitally stored in their personal patient file.

  • When you transfer patients’ health information to someone else, you must do what you can to prevent unauthorised people from accessing or using the information.

  • Our practice can keep patients’ health information for as long as we need the information to treat patients and must keep patients’ health information for a minimum of 10 years from the date that treatment was last provided.

  • Our practice must destroy patients’ information in a way that ensures the confidentiality of the information. Documents should be scanned digitally into the patient’s personal file then put in a document shredding box for secure destruction.

  • Patients are entitled to ask our practice to confirm whether we hold information about them and to access the information unless we have lawful reasons for withholding the information.

  • Patients are also entitled to ask our practice to correct the information that we hold about them.

  • You must assist patients who ask to access their information.

• The practice complies with the Privacy Act and Health Information Privacy Code requirements when disclosing health information.
  
  You must not disclose a patient’s information without their consent (or the consent of their representative) unless you reasonably believe that it is not possible for you to get the patient’s consent and:

  • the disclosure is for the purposes of the patient’s treatment (e.g., a referral);

  • the disclosure is to the patient’s caregiver and the patient hasn’t objected to the disclosure;

  • it is necessary for you to disclose the information to prevent a serious and immediate threat to the patient or another person’s life or health;

  • the disclosure is made for the purposes of a criminal proceeding;

  • the patient is, or is likely to become dependent on a drug that you need to report under the Misuse of Drugs Act or the Medicines Act;

  • the disclosure is to a social worker, or the police and concerns suspected child abuse;

  • the disclosure is made by a doctor to the Director of Land Transport Safety and concerns the patient’s ability to drive safely.
    
    You must consult with our practice’s Privacy Officer before disclosing a patient’s health information without his/her consent. The practice complies with the Privacy Act and Health Information Privacy Code when correcting health information

• The practice has a process to deal with data privacy breaches and notification in-line with the requirements under the Privacy Act.

• The practice will follow the process outlined when dealing with requests for information. These can be found in Practice Policies & Procedures (both Digital and in Print)

• The practice will ensure confidentiality of information.

• The practice will follow the process outlined to deal with transferring patient’s information. These can be found in Practice Policies & Procedures (both Digital and in Print)

  • The practice displays a privacy poster in the waiting room.

  • The practice has brochures relating to the Privacy Act and HIPC available for patients.  These can be found in the Practice Policies & Procedures (both Digital and in Print)

  • The Privacy Act and HIPC will be covered in the practice induction process.

Privacy Officer

The Privacy Officer has overall responsibility for privacy issues in the practice, but all staff are responsible for ensuring they keep up to date with their obligations under this legislation

Privacy Officer role:

• Ensure that the practice has a current privacy policy and procedures and that all staff can easily access these documents.

• Ensure that all staff members have read and understood the policy and procedures, and this has been documented.

• Ensure that the practice complies with the Privacy Act, both in regard to personal patient information and employee information.

• Deal with requests made to the practice about personal or employment information.

• Ensure compliance with the Health Information Privacy Code in relation to patient information.

• Brief the practice team on changes to legislation and/or practice processes.

• Use team meetings to discuss privacy complaints received, the part of the procedure that failed and ways to improve the process.

• Continuous improvement process and education.

• Induction of new staff on Privacy and HIPC.

• Source suitable training opportunities.

• Ensure that any complaints received are dealt with in accordance with legislation. If referred to the Privacy Commission, work with them to resolve.

• Provide clear guidelines to staff around who has access to health information and how it is handled.

Privacy Breaches

Agencies are now legally required to notify breaches in privacy if the breach poses a risk of serious harm or causes serious harm to an individual or group. There are three reasons why this is important:

• People cannot protect themselves from the impact of privacy breaches if they do not know a breach has occurred

• The speed at which data can be transferred and copied means the potential for harm is much greater

• haring the lessons from privacy breaches that have already occurred can help to prevent similar beaches in the future

If a notifiable privacy breach occurs the business should notify the affected people. If the breach poses a risk of serious harm or causes serious harm to an individual or group, the Privacy Commissioner must be notified. The Privacy Commission has developed a Notify Us tool which will help you to identify if the breach meets the notification threshold. Failure to notify could result in a penalty of up to $10,000.

Accessibility Statement

At Kaipara Dental, we are committed to providing a website that is accessible to all New Zealanders, including those with disabilities. We aim to ensure that everyone can access the information and services on our website easily, regardless of ability or technology.

We follow the New Zealand Government Web Accessibility Standard, which is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, to make our website usable for as many people as possible.

We have designed our site to work with screen readers, keyboard navigation, and other assistive technologies. Text is clear and easy to read, and we strive for strong contrast and simple layouts.

If you encounter any barriers while using our site or need information in a different format, please get in touch. We welcome your feedback as we continue to improve our digital accessibility.

Kaipara Dental proudly supports accessibility and inclusion across Aotearoa.