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Your privacy

Privacy Policy

How NeoPaeds Melbourne collects, uses, protects and shares your and your baby's personal and health information — in plain English.

Last reviewed

Take-home message

Your privacy is protected by law

NeoPaeds Melbourne handles your personal and health information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).

We only collect what we need to care for your baby. We never sell your information. You can ask to see your records at any time.

Who this policy covers

This policy applies to all information NeoPaeds Melbourne collects through our medical practice, our website, and any written or electronic communication with you, whether you are a current patient, a past patient, or a parent making an enquiry.

Dr Jubal John and all NeoPaeds Melbourne staff are bound by the same rules.

What information we collect

Personal information

To book appointments and communicate with you, we may collect:

  • Parent or guardian names and contact details
  • Your baby’s name, date of birth and Medicare details
  • Private health insurance information (if you have it)
  • Emergency contact information
  • Details of your referring doctor

Health information

To provide safe medical care, we collect:

  • Maternal pregnancy and birth history
  • Relevant family medical history
  • Your baby’s medical history, symptoms and examination findings
  • Test results and investigations
  • Treatment records and clinical notes
  • Medications prescribed or given
  • Relevant information from other healthcare providers involved in your care
  • Relevant social and family circumstances — for example who is at home, feeding and settling support, and anything affecting your family’s wellbeing — collected so we can support your family well and safely

Website information

When you visit www.neopaeds.au, we may collect:

  • Any details you enter into a contact form
  • Website usage data via Google Analytics (which pages are visited, with an analytics cookie, see website analytics below)
  • Basic technical information (browser type, approximate location based on IP address)

We do not use advertising cookies. We do not track you across other websites, and Google’s advertising features are disabled in our analytics.

How we use your information

Primary purposes: the reason we collect it

  • Providing medical care: assessing, diagnosing and treating your baby
  • Communicating with you: appointment reminders, results, follow-up, and answering your questions
  • Coordinating care: sharing relevant information with your GP, midwife, hospital team and other specialists involved in your baby’s care
  • Administration: processing Medicare and health fund claims, and keeping accurate billing records

With your agreement, we may also use de-identified information for:

  • Quality improvement activities
  • Clinical audits and practice accreditation
  • Medical education and teaching
  • Research, only with specific written consent and appropriate ethics approval

You can say no to secondary use without affecting your care.

When we share information

We share only what's necessary

We only share information when it is needed for your baby’s care, when you ask us to, or when the law requires it.

We never sell, rent or trade your information for marketing.

With your consent, we may share relevant information with:

  • Your GP or referring doctor
  • Other specialists involved in your baby’s care
  • Hospital staff during admissions at Royal Women’s Hospital, Frances Perry House or other hospitals
  • Allied health professionals (such as lactation consultants, physiotherapists, dietitians)

Administrative purposes

We share limited information with:

  • Medicare: for bulk-billing and claim processing
  • Private health insurers: with your consent, when a claim is made
  • Secure medical software providers: for practice management and clinical records (all providers are bound by privacy law)
  • Our professional indemnity insurer: in the rare event of a claim

When the law requires it

We may be required by law to disclose information without consent:

  • Under a court order, subpoena or lawful request
  • Under mandatory reporting obligations (for example, suspected child abuse or neglect)
  • To comply with public health requirements (notifiable diseases)
  • In a medical emergency to protect life

How we protect your information

  • Australian-hosted medical software: clinical records are held in reputable, password-protected, access-controlled medical software hosted in Australia, with access limited to those involved in your care
  • Where your information is held: your baby’s clinical information — including where AI-assisted tools are used — is stored and processed in Australia. Our website’s analytics and error-monitoring providers may handle limited, non-health technical data (such as page views and device type) outside Australia, never linked to your name or health information
  • Email and SMS: we use email and SMS to communicate with you — including appointment details and, at times, results and other health information. Email and SMS are convenient but are not fully secure channels; we send only what is necessary, and you can ask us to phone instead or to use a particular contact method
  • Electronic records: we keep records electronically in our medical software rather than in paper files
  • Trained staff: all staff are trained in privacy and confidentiality and sign confidentiality agreements as part of their employment
  • Secure disposal: electronic records are securely deleted when their retention period ends

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools

We use AI-assisted tools to help us work safely and efficiently — including administrative support, drafting and summarising, building and maintaining this website, and AI-assisted clinical documentation (for example, an AI scribe that helps prepare consultation notes).

  • A human stays in the loop. AI tools support our team; they do not make clinical decisions. Any AI-assisted clinical note or output is reviewed by Dr Jubal John before it is relied upon or added to your baby’s records.
  • Compliant tools, kept in Australia. Where AI tools are used with clinical information, we use established commercial products chosen to meet Australian privacy law, configured so that your information is processed within Australia (for example, cloud AI services hosted in AWS’s Sydney region). We keep what is shared to what is necessary.
  • Website content. Parts of this website were prepared with AI assistance and human review. It is general information only — please read our medical disclaimer.

Your rights

Under Australian privacy law, you have the right to:

  • Access your baby’s medical records
  • Correct any inaccurate information
  • Understand how we are using and sharing information
  • Restrict how we use your information (where possible)
  • Make a complaint if you think your privacy has been breached

Asking for a copy of your records

To request access to your baby’s medical records, please email admin@neopaeds.au or call (03) 9007 2099.

  • We will respond within 30 days.
  • A reasonable fee may apply for preparing and copying records.
  • In very limited situations, access may be restricted (for example, where release could pose a serious threat to someone’s life or health). If that happens, we will explain why in writing.

How long we keep information

We retain medical records in line with Victorian and Commonwealth requirements:

Record type How long we keep it
Children’s medical records Until the patient turns 25 years old (Health Records Act 2001 Vic)
Medicare claim records 2 years from date of service
Financial and billing records 7 years (tax law)
Records related to an incident, complaint or claim Indefinitely, for medico-legal reasons

At the end of the retention period, records are securely destroyed.

If you have a concern or complaint

Talk to us first

If you have any concern about how we handle your information, please contact us first, most issues can be resolved together quickly.

NeoPaeds Melbourne: Privacy Officer

Email: admin@neopaeds.au

Phone: (03) 9007 2099

If a privacy concern can’t be resolved together, complaints under the Privacy Act 1988 can be made to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Our website uses Google Analytics to understand which pages are useful, for example, which guides parents read most. It records pages visited, approximate location (city level), and device/browser type, using a first-party cookie. We have disabled Google’s advertising and cross-site “signals” features: the data is used for site analytics only, is not used to build advertising profiles, and we never attach names, contact details or any health information to it. You can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites with Google’s browser opt-out, or by blocking analytics cookies in your browser.

We also use Vercel Web Analytics (our hosting provider’s built-in analytics) to count page views and overall traffic. It is cookieless and privacy-focused: it does not use cookies, does not track you across other websites, and does not collect personal information.

We also use Sentry to capture technical errors, for example, if a page or interactive tool fails to load, so we can find and fix them. When an error occurs, Sentry receives the error details, the page address, and your browser and device type. It is configured for error monitoring only: no session recording, no advertising, and we never attach your name, contact details or any health information. Nothing is sent unless something goes wrong.

Our website may link to external resources (such as RCH Kids Health Info, HealthDirect or Raising Children Network). Those sites have their own privacy policies. We encourage you to read them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law or our practices. The current version is always available at www.neopaeds.au/privacy.

Last reviewed: 16 July 2026

Version: 1.2

Questions?

Contact us at admin@neopaeds.au or (03) 9007 2099: we’re happy to explain anything in this policy.

References