Privacy and Information Management Policy

Information Sheet for Service Users

This Information sheet is designed to tell you what will happen to the information you provide LifeAccess through any form of communication including this website. The Privacy and Information Policy also outlines the privacy, personal and business information management practices of LifeAccess.

Privacy

LifeAccess respects the privacy of all clients and customers. LifeAccess has a Privacy and Information Management policy that outlines rights and responsibilities in the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and Privacy Amendment Act 2012. The Act requires us to explicitly state how we will adhere to the Australia Privacy Principles. A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at https://www.oaic.gov.au/.

Personal information collection

This policy concerns any personal information or sensitive information of yours which is provided to us.

Personal information is defined as any information that specifically identifies you or from which your identity can be easily attained.

Sensitive information is any personal information about your disability, health, family history, social and living circumstances, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or affiliations, sexual orientation.

We are an occupational therapy service provider and collect personal and sensitive information from you to inform your therapy services. We may also collect personal and sensitive information about actual or prospective clients when assessing their suitability for us to offer a service. We will collect, use or disclose sensitive information about you only as allowed by law, for example where we have received your consent to do so or the collection is required by law.

Your consent

LifeAccess will request that you complete a consent form, before engaging in our services. By using this website or otherwise providing us directly, or through others, with your personal information, you agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as amended (including the Australian Privacy Principles) (the Act) and other applicable privacy laws.

How we collect your personal information

We collect personal information that is necessary for use to provide and develop occupational therapy services.

We may do this in a number of ways, including:

• directly from you, when you provide it to us or our agents or contractors
• where the personal information is about a child or a person who does not have the requisite capacity, from their parent, guardian or carer
• from publicly available resources
• by analysing our own records of your use of our services and website
• from third parties where you are transferred or referred to us for services that we provide
• from third parties such as health professionals and organisations such as hospitals, or
• from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and other government agencies.

We also may collect your personal information when legally required to do so under laws.

What personal information do we collect and why?

The type of personal information we collect may include your name, age, date of birth, address, postcode, demographic information, contact details, telephone numbers, email address, information on how you use our services and programs and your preferences regarding our services and programs, health information, financial information (e.g. payment details of clients or donors), family information (e.g. emergency contacts, carers or guardians) or information provided to us by prospective employees who do not later become employees. If we are not provided with the personal information that we request, we may not be able to meet your request or provide our services or programs to you.

The personal information you provide us may be used for a number of purposes connected with our operations, which include to:

• contact you
• verify your identity
• manage our relationship with you
• facilitate provision of our services and programs to you
• address or respond to any requests from you
• inform you of existing and proposed services and programs which we provide
• better understand your needs in the area of support
• develop and improve the quality and scope of the services and programs we provide, and seek your feedback

We may also use your personal information for purposes related to those described above which would reasonably be expected by you.

We will not use your information for purposes other than those described above unless we have your consent or as permitted by law (including for law enforcement or public health and safety reasons).

Sharing your personal information

We may disclose your personal information in certain circumstances, such as where we are required or authorised by law or where you have consented to us doing so.

We also may disclose your personal information to:

• others in accordance with a request made by you
• persons engaged in providing us with professional, business, technology and corporate services, when reasonably required, such as event registration, database management, data analytics, printing, mailing, data storage, banking, payment processing, auditing, accounting, legal, business consulting and technology services

When making such a disclosure we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient is bound by privacy obligations.

Unless you consent, we otherwise will not disclose your personal information to third parties.

Does my personal information leave Australia?

We will only send your personal information outside Australia if we are authorised to do so by law for any of the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy (but only to parties that are subject to obligations in relation to personal information no less onerous than those in this Privacy Policy), or if you have consented to us doing so.

LifeAccess only uses cloud storage infrastructure located in Australia.

Passive information collection

As you navigate through this website, certain information can be passively collected (that is, gathered without you actively providing the information) through various technologies, such as cookies, internet tags or web beacons and navigational data collection.

This website may use and combine such passively collected anonymous information to provide better services to website visitors, customise the website based on your preferences, compile and analyse statistics and trends and otherwise administer and improve the website for your use. Such information is not combined with personally identifiable information collected elsewhere on the website unless you have consented.

Access and correction

You may request access to any of the personal information we hold about you by contacting us as specified below. We reserve the right to charge a reasonable administration fee for the costs of retrieval and supply of any requested information.

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. To ensure your personal information is accurate, please notify us of any errors or changes to your personal information and we will take appropriate steps to update or correct such information in our possession.

Storage and security

We take all reasonable precautions to safeguard your information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification, disclosure or destruction. We may store your files in electronic or hard copy form (on our premises or stored offsite in secure facilities). We implement a range of physical and electronic security measures to protect the personal information that we hold, including, depending on the circumstances, electronic access controls (such as login and password protection), premises security and network firewalls.

You should keep in mind that no internet transmission is ever completely secure or error-free. In particular, emails sent to or from this website may not be secure.

Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme

In the event of any loss or unauthorised access or disclosure of your personal information that is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will investigate, and notify you and the Australian Information Commissioner as soon as practicable, in accordance with the Act.

Complaints

If you have any questions or concerns about our collection, use or disclosure of personal information, or if you believe we have not complied with this Privacy Policy or the Act, please contact us as set out below.  Our Privacy Officer will investigate the complaint and determine whether a breach has occurred and what action, if any, to take.

We will take any privacy complaint seriously and will aim to resolve any such complaint in a timely and efficient manner, and our target response time is 30 days.

We expect our procedures will deal fairly and promptly with your complaint.  However, if you remain dissatisfied, you can also make a formal complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (which is the regulator responsible for privacy in Australia):

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)

Director of Compliance

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218

Sydney NSW 2001

Phone: 1300 363 992

www.oaic.gov.au

Complaints must be made in writing

How to contact us

For questions about access and corrections to personal information about you that we hold:

• clients and families of clients, please contact your occupational therapist
• others, please contact 02 9011 6272 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you believe we have not complied with this Privacy Policy or the Act and would like to make a complaint, please email your complaint to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you wish to exercise your right to opt out of receiving our marketing materials, or you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our information practices (including whether and what type of health information we hold about you), please contact us. A full copy of LifeAccess Privacy and Information Management Policy and procedure can be obtained by contacting.

The Privacy Officer

LifeAccess

PO Box 689 Spit Junction

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Phone: 02 9011 6272

 

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Before providing us with personal information, please check this Policy on our website for any changes.