Privacy policy
About this policy
The purpose of this policy is to clearly communicate how we collect and manage personal information.
Contact admin@reformradiology.co.nz
Reform Radiology Privacy Statement
We understand that the privacy of your information is important to you. This Privacy Statement explains how Reform Radiology collects, uses, stores, and discloses your personal and health information, including who we may share it with.
We manage your information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020, the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, the Health Act 1956, and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights.
All health professionals and administrative staff involved in your care are also bound by these legal, professional, and ethical obligations of confidentiality. We take reasonable steps to ensure your information is only accessed by authorised persons involved in your care or service delivery.
Purposes for collecting your information
We collect your personal and health information to provide safe, accurate, and high-quality radiology services. This includes:
providing imaging and procedures you have consented to
receiving and managing referrals from your healthcare providers
scheduling appointments and sending reminders or notifications
supporting safe and appropriate diagnostic imaging and procedures
preparing diagnostic imaging reports
managing billing, invoicing, and debt collection
meeting obligations to insurers or third-party funders (including ACC, insurers, and Health New Zealand where applicable)
responding to medico-legal matters, including insurance or indemnity requirements
managing complaints, concerns, and feedback
These are collectively known as “the Purposes”.
Information we collect about you
We may collect the following types of information:
Name (legal and preferred)
Date of birth
Gender and sex (used for clinical and diagnostic accuracy)
Ethnicity
National Health Index (NHI) number
Contact details (address, phone, email)
Billing and payment details
Funding or claim details (e.g. ACC claim number, insurance policy details, WorkCover)
Medical history and health information, including imaging history, test results, conditions, allergies, medications, implants, and relevant treatments
Family history and relevant lifestyle information where clinically necessary
Information relevant to your care, such as work, social circumstances, or other contextual information where relevant
Feedback, complaints, or claims information
Regarding sex information
We collect information about your sex as it is clinically important for safe and accurate imaging. It helps ensure correct imaging protocols, interpretation of results, and reduces the risk of diagnostic error.
How we collect your information
Directly from you:
We collect personal information about you directly from you when you interact with us, including over the phone or during face-to-face consultations. For certain imaging procedures, you may also be required to complete consent or safety forms, either online on a personal device via COMRAD Aura or in person before your appointment.
From other sources (indirect collection):
We may also collect information about you from other sources where it is reasonably necessary for the provision of healthcare services to you and where you would reasonably expect this collection to occur in the context of your care.
These sources include:
your referrers
your general practitioner (GP) or specialist
other healthcare providers involved in your care
laboratories
Health New Zealand
health information systems or shared record platforms (e.g. HealthOne – see below)
other medical imaging providers
relatives or personal representatives e.g. power of attorney (where appropriate)
third-party funders such as insurers, ACC, or Health New Zealand
national or regional imaging repositories (including prior imaging and reports for comparison)
We collect this information to ensure your imaging is safe, accurate, and clinically appropriate, and to support continuity of care.
Where we collect your information from other sources, we take reasonable steps to ensure you are aware of this collection. This may include providing information in this Privacy Statement and where appropriate, through our appointments process or other communications with you.
In some circumstances, we may not notify you directly at the time of collection where this is permitted by law, including where the collection is reasonably expected as part of your care or where it is not practical to notify you.
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your information.
You may also ask us not to collect information from certain sources; however this may affect our ability to provide safe and appropriate care.
HealthOne and Health Connect South
Please note that this organisation is accessing healthcare information from HealthOne/Health Connect South.
HealthOne and Health Connect South are South Island based secure electronic record that allows registered healthcare providers directly involved in your healthcare, to quickly access information such as your test results, allergies, medications, GP summaries and hospital information.
HealthOne adheres to the principles of the Privacy Act 2020 as well as the Rules set out in the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. Access is only possible via an approved highly secure healthcare information network which is regularly audited and tested. Privacy auditing is used to check that only those directly involved in your care are accessing your information.
To find out more about HealthOne please visit https://healthone.org.nz/. Please note that you are entitled to restrict the sharing of your healthcare records by contacting 0508 837 872 or emailing HealthOne.privacy@pegasus.health.nz
Using or sharing your information
We may use and share your information for the Purposes described above.
We share relevant information with healthcare professionals and people relevant to your care, providers, and systems involved in your care, including:
your referring doctors and specialists
other authorised healthcare providers involved in your care
personal representatives or other persons authorised to receive information on your behalf (where appropriate)
other medical imaging providers
health information systems or shared records
research organisations where you have consented to participate in research
Access is provided to authorised personnel and is based on their role in your care or service delivery.
We may also share your information with service providers who support our operations, including IT services, data hosting, cybersecurity, billing, auditing, legal, and administrative providers. These providers are required to protect your information and only use it for the services they provide to us.
We may disclose your information to third-party funders (such as insurers, ACC, or Health New Zealand) for funding approval, payment, reporting, and audit purposes. Where Health New Zealand funds your care, relevant information will be shared with them. See: Health New Zealand - Privacy
We will not use or disclose your information for any other purpose unless permitted or required by law.
Internal systems and shared providers
Reform Radiology use shared information systems with Affinity Medical Imaging and Allevia Health to support the delivery of integrated healthcare services. As a result, your health information may be accessed and used by authorised staff across these organisations where it is relevant to your imaging, procedures, administration, or related services. All organisations are required to handle your information in accordance with applicable privacy laws and to maintain appropriate security safeguards.
Other Disclosures
In addition to healthcare providers described above, we may also disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:
Parent(s) - (if the patient is under the age of 18)
Guardians
A person exercising a patient’s power of attorney under an enduring power or attorney
Government agencies such as the Ministry of Health and WorkSafe as appropriate
Community and government cancer and disease screening programs
Our service providers including providers of archival, auditing, accounting, legal, banking, payment, debt collection, delivery, data processing, data analysis, document management, information broking, research, investigation, insurance, website, and technology services
These parties only receive the minimum information necessary to perform their functions and are required to protect your information.
Storage and security
We take reasonable steps to protect your information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
Your information is stored securely in either electronic systems or secure physical records, and is accessible only to authorised personnel involved in your care or service delivery.
Retention of information
We are required by law to store health information for at least 10 years. We may store information for a longer period where this is considered good practice to ensure relevant health records remain available or where the information remains necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
Accuracy of the information
We take reasonable steps to ensure your information is accurate, complete, up to date, and not misleading before using or disclosing it.
Right to access and seek correction of Information
You may request access to the information that we hold about you. We will need to verify that it is you requesting the information before we can provide it. If you think any of the information is incorrect, you can ask for it to be corrected.
Our Website
If you use our website to read, browse or download information, our system may record information such as the date and time of your interaction, the pages accessed, and any information downloaded. This information is used for statistical, reporting and website administration and maintenance purposes.
Like many other websites, our website may use ‘cookies’ from time to time. A cookie is a piece of information that allows our system to identity and interact more efficiently with your browser. The cookie helps us to maintain our continuity of your browsing session and remember your details and preferences when you return. You can configure your web browser software to reject cookies however parts of our website may not have full functionality in that case.
Our website may use Google services such as Google analytics from time to time. For more about how Google collects and processes data, please see Google’s privacy policy and their information at: www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.
Our website may contain links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or policies of those sites.
Privacy complaints or concerns
If you want to know more about how we collect, use and may share your information or you have any concerns about how we have collected, used or shared your information you can contact us at any of the following:
Email: quality@reformradiology.co.nz
Phone: 03 962 5700
Address: Privacy Officer, 226 Antigua Street, Christchurch Central 8011.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
Privacy breach
We take privacy breaches seriously. If a breach occurs, we will take immediate steps to contain and assess it, and comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020.
Changes to this statement
We may modify or amend this policy at any time and for any reason, including to address any legislative change. Any material changes to this policy will be posted prior to their implementation.
Updates to this policy will be published on our website: reformradiology.co.nz/privacy-policy