Social Media Policy

Social Media refers to the connection of people in an online environment, and it has become a key information source for many people.  Social Media includes:

• Social networking sites, e.g., Facebook, MySpace
• Video and photo sharing websites, e.g., YouTube, Flickr
• Micro-blogging sites, e.g., Twitter
• Weblogs, including corporate blogs, personal blogs or blogs hosted by traditional media publications
• Forums and discussion boards, e.g., Whirlpool, Google Groups
• Online encyclopaedias, e.g., Wikipedia
• Any other websites that allow users or companies to post comments to the web.

Employees of Victoria Crescent Medical Centre are required when using Social Media in a personal capacity or as part of their job, to act in a responsible manner where Victoria Crescent Medical Centre ’s business is involved, including its services, its people, its stakeholders and/or other related individuals or organisations.

This policy covers an employee’s use of social media as part of their employment or in a personal capacity, and applies whenever an employee’s or contractor’s use of Social Media relates to or impacts upon their capacity to perform their role as a Victoria Crescent Medical Centre employee.  The policy applies to all employees and contractors.

Victoria Crescent Medical Centre employees are bound by Confidentiality Agreements which extend to interactions within the Social Media space, and are expected to exercise prudence and good judgement when using Social Media.

Any personal social media interactions using Victoria Crescent Medical Centre ’s information communication technology assets, whether the interactions relate to Victoria Crescent Medical Centre or not, are covered by this policy.

Employees of Victoria Crescent Medical Centre must not use their Victoria Crescent Medical Centre e-mail address to publish comments or engage socially online.  The identification of a Victoria Crescent Medical Centre e-mail address linked to content online implies you are authorised to speak on Victoria Crescent Medical Centre ’s behalf.

Employees of Victoria Crescent Medical Centre should not:

• allow online Social Media engagement to compromise or interfere with their working relationships or their work at Victoria Crescent Medical Centre
• disclose or comment on any private, confidential or secure information.
• publish private contact details or other personal or health information relating to patients, doctors or colleagues
• post or respond to any inappropriate content (material that is offensive, obscene, defamatory, harassing, threatening, discriminatory, intimidating or otherwise inappropriate).

Using social media in our practice

• • Policy

‘Social media’ is defined as online social networks used to disseminate information through online interaction.

Regardless of whether social media is used for business related activity or for personal reasons, the following standards apply to members of our practice team, including general practitioners. Practitioners and team members are legally responsible for their postings online. Practitioners and team members may be subject to liability and disciplinary action including termination of employment or contract if their posts are found to be in breach of this policy.

• Procedure

Our practice has appointed our designated Receptionist as our social media officer with designated responsibility to manage and monitor the practice’s social media accounts. All posts on the practice’s social media websites must be approved by this person.

When using the practice’s social media, all members of our practice team will not:

• Post any material that:
• Is unlawful, threatening, defamatory, pornographic, inflammatory, menacing, or offensive
• Infringes or breaches another person’s rights (including intellectual property rights) or privacy, or misuses the practice’s or another person’s confidential information (e.g. do not submit confidential information relating to our patients, personal information of staff, or information concerning the practice’s business operations that have not been made public)
• Is materially damaging or could be materially damaging to the practice’s reputation or image, or another individual
• Is in breach of any of the practice’s policies or procedures
• Use social media to send unsolicited commercial electronic messages, or solicit other users to buy or sell products or services or donate money
• Impersonate another person or entity (for example, by pretending to be someone else or another practice employee or other participant when you submit a contribution to social media) or by using another’s registration identifier without permission
• Tamper with, hinder the operation of, or make unauthorised changes to the social media sites
• Knowingly transmit any virus or other disabling feature to or via the practice’s social media account, or use in any email to a third party, or the social media site
• Attempt to do or permit another person to do any of these things:
• Claim or imply that you are speaking on the practice’s behalf, unless you are authorised to do so
• Disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to the practice, or to any third party that has disclosed information to the practice
• Be defamatory, harassing, or in violation of any other applicable law
• Include confidential or copyrighted information (e.g. music, videos, text belonging to third parties), and
• Violate any other applicable policy of the practice.

All members of our practice team must obtain the relevant approval from our social media officer prior to posting any public representation of the practice on social media websites. The practice reserves the right to remove any content at its own discretion.

Any social media must be monitored in accordance with the practice’s current polices on the use of internet, email and computers.

Our practice complies with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) national law, and takes reasonable steps to remove testimonials that advertise our services (which may include comments about the practitioners themselves). Our practice is not responsible for removing (or trying to have removed) unsolicited testimonials published on a website or in social media over which we do not have control.

Any social media posts by members of our practice team on their personal social media platforms should:

• Include the following disclaimer example in a reasonably prominent place if they are identifying themselves as an employee of the practice on any posting: ‘The views expressed in this post are mine and do not reflect the views of the practice/business/committees/boards that I am a member of’, and
• Respect copyright, privacy, fair use, financial disclosure and other applicable laws when publishing on social media platforms.

Social media activities internally and externally of the practice must be in line with this policy.