PRIVACY POLICY
Objective
Healthstyles Clinic (‘us’, ‘the provider’) respects your privacy and the trust you place in us by engaging with our services. We take a person-centred approach to service delivery and so need to gather information about you to understand how best to work with you to achieve your goals. This document outlines how Healthstyles Clinic collects and manages your personal and sensitive information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Act), the Australian Privacy Principles (‘the APP’s) and other relevant regulations, and what to do if you have questions regarding your privacy.
Policy
Healthstyles Clinic requires authority to collect, store, use and disclose participant information for the purpose of providing therapeutic support and intervention to the participant and/or their representative, with relevant stakeholders, and under any circumstance governed by Australian Law.
Personal Information is any information or opinion that identifies you, or could identify you, and includes details such as your name, contact details, date of birth; NDIS, Medicare or insurance claim number and related information; information about your current situation, background and lifestyle, and other information obtained or received by us in connection with your therapeutic needs.
Sensitive Information is a special category of personal information. It is information or opinion about you, including health information, criminal record, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, or sexual preferences or practices. Sensitive information can, in most cases, only be disclosed with your consent.
Collection and use of personal information
Healthstyles Clinic may collect personal and sensitive information about you from you, your nominee/representative or a third party when you complete a form, visit our offices, engage with us in person or electronically, or through other interactions. Healthstyles Clinic may also obtain personal information collected by Commonwealth agencies (including the NDIA, the NDIS Commission etc.), State or Territory government bodies, or other relevant organisations. We will not ask you for any personal information which is not reasonably necessary for, or related to, a function or activity of Healthstyles Clinic. Where possible and if appropriate, we will explain why we are collecting information from you and how it is planned to be used. If we collect or use personal information in ways other than as stated in this policy, we will ensure we do so pursuant to the requirements of the Act.
The primary purpose of collecting personal information is to:
Assess Healthstyles Clinic’s ability to adequately service your needs
Contact you and your nominee / representative / relevant stakeholders in relation to the provision of our services
Provide services, including plan development, collaboration, coordination, implementation, monitoring and reviewing
Ensure correct funding use and claiming for services delivered through our roster / billing processes
Report to NDIS, government or other funding bodies of how funding is serviced by us
Respond to your feedback and queries
Healthstyles Clinic may also take photographs and videos for therapeutic purposes, or for marketing purposes.
Healthstyles Clinic will not use or disclose your information for any secondary purposes unless:
You have consented to the use or disclosure
You would reasonably expect us to use or disclose your information for a secondary purpose (as relating directly to the primary purpose)
Use or disclose of the information is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order, including in case of a data breach, a serious threat to life, health or safety, or reasonable suspicion of serious misconduct or unlawful activities which may affect organisational functions or someone’s health and safety
In all cases, Healthstyles Clinic will only release as much information as is needed to respond to the enquiry or concern. However, certain information will not be released by us (e.g., information about other individuals, records subject to solicitor-participant privilege, records relating to a current lawful investigation, records the release of which would affect the safety or health of anyone).
Management of personal information
Safeguarding your information is important to us. We hold personal information in a combination of secure computer and cloud-based storage facilities and paper-based files and take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may retain records for a significant period of time as per legislation. When we consider information is no longer needed, we will remove any details that will identify you or we will securely destroy the records.
We train our staff to respect the confidentiality of customer information and the privacy of individuals.
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the information held and disclosed is up to date, accurate, complete, relevant and not misleading. Please advise us if your personal details change.
You can request a copy of your personal information by writing or emailing us. This may incur an administrative fee. We may limit information provided, where legally entitled to do so.
Client records are kept for a minimum of seven years after date of last contact. In addition, children’s records are kept until the child attains the age of 25 years. After this time, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your information as per APS guidelines.
Resources, legislation & regulations
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)
Australian Psychological Society Code of Ethics
NDIS Practice Standards
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) https://www.oaic.gov.au
Contact
If you have any question or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Healthstyles Clinic
71 Mount St Burnie Tas 7320
Phone: 1300 240 030