1. PURPOSE
RHPT is committed to protecting the privacy of our clients and other individuals by complying with the Privacy Act (1988) and the Speech Pathology Australia Code of Conduct (2010).
This privacy policy sets out how personal information in RHPT will be collected, held, used and disclosed in order to comply with the privacy legislation.
The aim of this policy is to:
- Recognises and respects the importance of protecting the privacy of all with whom we interact.
- Provide services in manner that respects the rights and dignity of our clients
- Ensure that RHPT only uses individuals’ personal information for the purpose for which it was collected or as otherwise authorised.
2. ACCOUNTABILITY
The Board of Restoring Hope Parkinson’s Therapy Ltd – responsible for reviewing the policy, and for ensuring that this policy is communicated and applied within all programs and activities conducted. Oversees the effectiveness of these processes and manages the complaints process.
All employees and volunteers – responsible for adhering, implementing and influencing achievement of this policy and its objectives.
3. POLICY
Confidentiality
RHPT treats as confidential all information we handle in the course of our professional services.
RHPT does not disclose information about our clients, or the confidences they share with us, unless:
- our clients consent to this;
- the law requires us to disclose it; or
- there are compelling moral and ethical reasons for us to disclose it.
Collection and Use of information
We only collect and hold personal information that is reasonably necessary for our functions and activities. This includes in particular intensive speech therapy and related services.
The kinds of personal information we may collect and hold are:
- your name, date of birth & contact details
- Medicare card and private health fund membership details
- your medical diagnosis and current medications.
We may also collect sensitive information, which is a special category of personal information under the Privacy Act. We will give your sensitive information a greater level of protection from unnecessary disclosure and we will not share it unless you have consented.
All personal information is collected through approved channels:
- Directly from yourself
- From your doctor, specialist, or other healthcare providers
- From your next of kin, emergency contact, or carer.
The Consent and Commitment form is part of the client Medical Record and includes pre assessment consent for:
- Audio and video recording
- Use of de-identified data for research purposes
- Exchange of information with other relevant persons involved in client care.
The Media/Video Release form does not form part of required consent for participation in therapy with RHPT. This form is necessary if media/video is to be released for public media.
You may sign up to receive SMS messages that remind you of your upcoming appointments. To subscribe to appointment reminders, you need to provide your mobile phone number, which will be used for the purpose of notifying you of your appointments, and to contact you for treatment related issues. If you no longer wish to receive appointment reminders, notify a staff member or your therapist.
Protection and Security of Information
We take all reasonable steps to keep your personal information secure and free from interference, misuse, loss and unauthorised access.
- Hard copies of all personal and sensitive patient information is collated in a personal file, for each patient and stored in a secure, locked filing cabinet. If transportation of a client’s medical record is necessary, use of authorised confidentiality bag is required.
- Electronic records are stored in databases with security safeguards.
- Transmission of patient records (including letters and reports) occurs via the secure portal in Halaxy client management software.
- RHPT authorised email addresses are used only for work related to RHPT and recipient email addresses must be verified prior to any transmission of personal or sensitive client information.
- Personal information will not be disclosed outside of Australia without your express permission to do so.
Communication and Marketing Policy
RHPT may use and store your personal information for marketing purposes, in order to inform you of the services we offer. These details will only be used in accordance with the terms of this policy and the Australian Privacy Principles. If you do not want to receive marketing material from us, you can unsubscribe by responding to our marketing material as indicated, or by e-mailing us at info@rhptherapy.org.au.
Our website may include functionality to enable sharing via third party social media applications, such as Facebook and Twitter. Where we have social media features on our websites (to facilitate the sharing of knowledge), any personal information that you provide on our social media feature may be shared with other users of that social media feature (unless otherwise stated at the point of collection). We have limited or no control over those users.
Where we have links to other websites, we cannot ensure that your privacy will be protected in accordance with this Policy. You should consult these other websites’ privacy policies as we have no control over them and are not responsible for any information that is submitted to or collected by these third parties.
In general we gather information and statistics about all visitors to our websites including users IP address, browser and computer type, the most frequently accessed pages and most frequently used services. Such data does not identify any one individual. This information helps us determine the most beneficial parts of our websites and ways in which we can continually improve our online service.
Enquiries, Complaints, and Corrections
Your complaint, enquiry, or request to correct your personal information should be in writing. You can make requests, enquiries or complaints about your privacy to your primary point of contact at RHPT or directly to the RHPT Board.
You can contact the Board at:
Board
Restoring Hope Parkinson’s Therapy
PO Box 5017 SCMC
Nambour Qld 4560
Email: board@rhptherapy.org.au
If an issue arises that cannot be handled within the organisation, it will be referred to Speech Pathology Australia for advice.
4. REVIEW
The Restoring Hope Parkinson’s Therapy Privacy Policy will be reviewed every three years or upon legislation changes.