Informed Consent Policy
Chiropractic adjustments (manipulations) of the spine are internationally recognised as being far safer in dealing with neck and low back pain than medication and many other alternatives. (A Risk Assessment of Cervical Manipulation, JMPT, 1995. Manga Report, Ontario Ministry of Health, 1983.). Everyone attending a health practitioner has the right to make an informed choice and health care practitioners are required to inform patients of any possible risk, no matter how rare or slight.
It is not uncommon for patients to experience some mild achiness for 24-48 hours after their adjustments.1,2 This is a normal sign of change, as may occur after exercise or stretching.1.2 Other uncommon risks include strain/injury to a ligament or disc in the neck (less than 1 in 139,000) or the low back (1 in 62,000).3
In extremely rare circumstances, patients may present to a chiropractor whilst in the process of having a vertebral artery dissection, which may lead to a stroke (1 in 5.85 million).4 These symptoms can be difficult to detect despite our thorough assessment according to best practice. Chiropractors at Waitaki Chiropractic take into consideration many factors when determining the best adjustment for each patient and level of force required for each adjustment.
If there is evidence of serious pathology, the chiropractors at Waitaki Chiropractic may refer you to their colleagues, your GP, another healthcare professional, or directly to the hospital.
Chiropractic experience consistently demonstrates unexpected improvement in people’s lives. One study indicated that 23% of people experience improvement in some other aspect of their health.5 Of individuals who experience such improvements:
- 26% experienced improvements in their respiratory system;
- 25% in their digestive system;
- 14% in their circulatory system/heart;
- 14% in their eyes/vision.”
The chiropractor retains the right, if necessary, to exchange information with your medical practitioner or other healthcare provider. This information will be kept confidential as required under the Privacy Act.
For the first three appointments, all patients under the age of 16 are required to have a parent or legal guardian present for informed consent or have consent from a parent or legal guardian to have appointments without their parent or legal guardian present. For regular appointments, all patients under the age of 13 are required to have a parent or legal guardian present, or have consent from a parent or legal guardian to have appointments without their parent or legal guardian present.
Cervical artery dissection, stroke and cervical spine manipulation
Author: World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC)
Cervical artery dissection (CAD) accounts for less than 2% of all stroke cases, an extremely uncommon condition with an annual incidence rate of between 1 and 3 per 100,000 people.
On rare occasions, CAD has been reported to have occurred after a patient visited a chiropractor or other provider of manual therapy. However, the best evidence available to date indicates that spinal manipulation does not stress the arteries enough to cause tearing of the arteries leading to dissection-related strokes. Additional studies have concluded that patients are as likely to have consulted a primary care physician as receive spinal manipulation from a chiropractor prior to experiencing a CAD-related stroke.
The symptoms of a CAD in progress – including neck pain and headaches – often mimic those of mechanical neck pain, conditions for which patients routinely seek assistance from a healthcare provider. Patients with neck pain are more likely to have CAD than those who do not, and patients with neck pain are more likely to visit chiropractors than those who do not. Up to 12% of adults in the United States visit chiropractors each year for successful treatment of neck pain and headache symptoms
The provision of safe, high-quality, evidence-based, patient-centered care for these and other conditions is a priority for the chiropractic profession.
About the WFC
The World Federation of Chiropractic is an international, non-governmental organization whose members are the national associations of over 90 countries in seven world regions. It is a non-state actor in official relations with the World Health Organization and is the global authority for matters related to the chiropractic profession.
References
1. Leboeuf-Yde C, Axen I, Ahlefeldt G, Lidefelt P, Rosenbaum A & Thurnherr T. Side effects of chiropractic treatment: a prospective study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther, 1997;20(8):511-515.
2. Senstad 0, Leboeuf-Yde C & Borchgrevink C. Frequency and characteristics of side effects of spinal manipulative therapy. Spine. 1997;22(4):435-440.
3. Dvorak J & Orelli F. How dangerous is manipulation to the cervical spine? Manual Medicine: 1985;2: 1-4.
4. Haldeman 5, Carey P, Townsend M, Papadopoulos C. Arterial dissections following cervical manipulation: the chiropractic experience. Can. Med. Assoc.).
2001;165(7):905-906.
5, Leboeuf-Yde C, Axen 1, Ahlefeldt G, Lidefelt P, Rosenbaum A & Thurnherr T. The types and frequency of improved non-musculoskeletal symptoms reported after chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999;22(9):559-564.
Charges and Payments Policy
All fees to be paid at the time of service, by cash, eftpos, VISA or Mastercard.
Credit card and contactless payments will incur 1.5% surcharge
Debt Collection fees will be applied to patient’s account for late payers
A ‘Block of 12 Adjustments’ is an advance payment for 12 adjustments, which is non-transferable and non-refundable and valid for 2 years.
If an invoice remains outstanding for 1-month following the invoice date and no acceptable payment plan has been arranged, the debt will be sent to a debt collection agency and any associated costs will be incurred by the patient.
A missed appointment is where a Practice Member has not shown up to their allocated appointment time and has not cancelled or rebooked their appointment prior to their appointment.
Concessionary Categories
Newborns – 17 years and full-time tertiary students (uni, polytech, apprenticeships)
People on a Jobseeker or Supported Living benefit
People over 65 years who are not earning an income
ACC
If ACC declines your case, you will need to pay the difference between the ACC surcharge and the regular charge for the visits you have had.
Family Discount
When children (up to 13 year-olds) get adjusted on the same day as a parent the children’s adjustments receive a 50% discount on the concession rate.
Missed Appointment Policy
We charge a $25 fee when patients book an appointment but don’t show up to it, without letting us know prior. We simply ask that you please call or email us if you are going to miss your appointment time, so that we can free up the time for someone else. We will give you a gentle reminder after the first missed appointment, though. Thanks for understanding.
Privacy Policy
We’re committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals that provide Personal Information to us, including the data recorded by customers in their “New Patient Consultation”. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, protect, use and share personal information.
We may review and change this policy from time to time. When we do, we’ll update this version.
Definitions:
- ‘Patient’ or ‘Customer’ is a user of the services provided by Waitaki Chiropractic and who has agreed to our Terms of Service.
- ‘Personal Information’ means information that can identify an individual.How This Information is Used
Personal Information We Collect
We collect personal data in a couple of different ways—directly and indirectly.
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT DIRECTLY FROM YOU
We directly collect Personal Information if you complete a New Patient Health History form and if you send an enquiry to us from our website, or get in touch with us by chat, email, or phone. We may also collect some Personal Information if you engage with us through social media.
This information can include your name, gender, date of birth, country of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses.
We do not directly collect any special categories of personal data about you. This includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, and genetic and biometric data. Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT INDIRECTLY
We indirectly collect Personal Information when someone is referred to our practice. A typical scenario would be when a healthcare professional refers a patient to our office and sends personal information about a patient. We may request personal information and health records and imaging from another health professional and/or a Picture Archiving and Communication System, eg a hospital or Pacific Radiology).
This information can include names, genders, dates of birth, countries of birth, residential addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, a person’s emergency contacts, health insurance numbers, ACC claim details, health history, health status and patient treatment notes and records.
Cookie Policy: In addition, in order to improve our services, we use data that can be retrieved from cookies, and other technology whose purpose is gathering data about website use. This data may include:
- Browser and hardware data, such as IP address, type of device, operating system, browser type, screen resolution, language, device make and model, as well as the versions of the above mentioned services.
- Cookie and tracking technology data, which would include pages visited, time spent on pages, language preferences, and other anonymous traffic data.
How This Information is Used
Generally speaking, the Personal Information we collect is used by us to inform our decision making on how to best look after the Patient. The Personal Information we collect about our own Patients may also be used for billing, identification, authentication, and for contacting them if we need to.
We may, with consent, use email addresses to share reports, advice, news, tips, updates and special offers. People who receive these promotional emails can unsubscribe at any time, please email unsubscribe@waitakichiropractic.co.nz with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Personal Information relating to third parties will not be shared with any other entity unless the person it relates to has agreed to our terms and conditions.
We may use other data for a range of different purposes, provided we comply with applicable law and our contractual commitments, such as:
- To deliver customer service and assist you with any inquiries you may have.
- To analyze trends, administer or optimise our service, monitor usage or traffic patterns and gather demographic information about our user base as a whole.
- To control unauthorised use or abuse of our database—or otherwise detect, investigate or prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal.
How This Information is Disclosed
Except as described in this Privacy Policy, Waitaki Chiropractic will not share, sell, or rent Personal Information with anyone without your permission or unless ordered by a court of law.
We work with third-party services in New Zealand and Australia, such as:
- ‘Cliniko’ our practice management software, located in Australia
- ‘Invoice Direct’, our ACC invoicing agent, located in New Zealand
- ‘Cliniq Apps’, our patient communication application, located in Australia.
that we allow access to Personal Information, and may use it on our behalf strictly for the purposes for which they are engaged. We minimise the amount of personal data that is utilised by these services, and we have ensured that these services process your data in accordance with the appropriate regulations. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of these third-party services.
We may forward personal information and health records to another health professional if requested.
In rare circumstances, we may be obliged to disclose Personal Information if disclosure is required to comply with the law, if we believe it is necessary to protect our rights, or if the ownership and assets of Waitaki Chiropractic were to be transferred to another party.
The Security of Your Personal Information
We take security seriously, and so do our third party services. Data is encrypted, stored in state-of-the-art facilities, access is restricted to those who have a need to know, and the technology to maintain security is regularly reviewed.
In the event that there is a breach and your Personal Information that we have collected directly is at risk, you will be notified within 96 hours of discovering the breach. You will be informed of what information is at risk, steps that we have taken to ensure your safety, and what action we are taking or have taken to rectify the breach.
Access, Correct or Delete Personal Information About You
You can request access to the Personal Information you have provided to us, via email to info@waitakichiropractic.co.nz.
If you think there’s a problem with the Personal Information we hold about you, you can request a correction. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected.
If you want to request erasure of your Personal Information, we’ll take all reasonable steps to do so unless we are required to keep it for legal reasons, which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Questions or Complaints
If you have any questions or complaints about our Privacy Policy or the way we handle your Personal Information, you can contact us at info@waitakichiropractic.co.nz. This is our preferred method of contact.
