Privacy Policy
ASHFORD ADVANCED EYE CARE PRIVACY POLICY
1. About our Privacy Policy
Ashford Advanced Eye Care (“we”, “us” or “our”) recognises the importance of privacy and is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals when handling their personal information. We handle personal information for purposes relating to our medical functions and activities including assessing, diagnosing and treating patients.
Our Privacy Policy outlines how we handle personal information in an open and transparent manner in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988. However, our Privacy Policy does not apply to employee records that we hold about current or former employees.
By providing us with your personal information you consent to us handling it in accordance with our Privacy Policy. If you provide us with any personal information about another individual then we rely upon you to inform him or her of the details contained in our Privacy Policy.
2. Privacy decisions by individuals under 18
The Privacy Act does not specify an age after which individuals can make their own privacy decisions. As a general rule, an individual under the age of 18 has capacity to consent when he or she has sufficient understanding and maturity to understand what is being proposed. However, it will be necessary for a parent or guardian to consent on behalf of an individual where he or she lacks the maturity or understanding to do so.
Where it is not practicable or reasonable for us to assess the capacity of individuals on a case-by-case basis then we will presume that individuals aged 15 or over have capacity to make their own privacy decisions including giving consent and individuals aged under 15 do not to have capacity to make such decisions unless there is something to suggest otherwise.
3. Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for purposes relating to our medical functions and activities. For example, we may collect, hold, use or disclose your personal information for one or more of the following purposes:
- providing our medical services that you request
- managing our patient relationship with you
- providing you with information about our medical services
- evaluating or improving our medical services
- carrying out our medical functions or activities
- complying with our legal or regulatory obligations
4. What kinds of personal information we collect
The kinds of personal information about you that we may collect and hold include your:
- personal details including name, date of birth, country of birth, race, current and previous addresses, contact details, gender, age, marital status, occupation and family information
- medical history including family, social, drugs, medications, vitamins, minerals, treatments, allergies, operations and health care providers
- health insurance and payment details including Medicare number, health insurer details, bank account details and credit card number
We will only collect personal information about you for the purpose of providing you with our medical services with your consent unless we are required or authorised by law to collect the information.
If you do not provide us with the personal information that we request then we may not be able to provide you with our medical services.
5. What kinds of website visitor information we collect
We also collect information about visitors to our website www.ashfordadvancedeyecare.com.au (“Website”) using a range of third party tools including cookies and session tools. For example, when you visit our Website we may collect your server address, domain name, operating system, browser type, pages accessed, documents downloaded, previous visits, referring website, and visit date and time. We collect and hold this information for the purpose of maintaining and improving our Website and enhancing your experience browsing our Website. ou may set your browser to disable cookies but some parts of our Website may not function properly if cookies are disabled. Our Website does not set tracking cookies if a Do Not Track request is received from your browser.
How we collect personal information
We collect personal information for the purpose of carrying out our medical functions and activities. We usually collect personal information directly from you in person or when you communicate with us by form, letter, telephone, facsimile, email or other means. For example, we may collect your personal information directly from you when:
- you request us to provide our medical services
- you request us to provide you with information about our medical services
- you complete a survey or provide feedback in respect of our medical services
- you subscribe to receive medical news updates or other information from us
- you apply for a position as an employee or contractor with us
We may also collect your personal information from a third party or publicly available source for the purpose of carrying out our medical functions and activities. If you are a patient we will only collect your personal information with your consent or where otherwise required or authorised by law. For example, we may collect your personal information from:
- your authorised representatives in connection with providing our medical services that you request or your attendance at or participation in an event, function or activity organised by us
- your other health care providers including doctors, specialists, pathology providers, radiology providers and hospitals
- your health insurer in connection with providing you with medical services
- our service providers that assist us to carry out our medical functions and activities including our general practitioners, registrars, nurses, medical administrators information technology providers, printing and mailing providers, training providers, payment gateway providers, recruitment agencies, insurance providers, billing and debt recovery providers, and professional advisers
- our related companies, agents, partners, affiliates or other trusted entities that assist us to carry out our medical functions and activities
- government departments, agencies or bodies in connection with carrying out our medical functions and activities
- your referees in connection with an application that you make for a position as an employee or contractor with us
6. How we hold and protect personal information
We hold personal information that we collect in both physical and electronic storage facilities including paper-based files, computer servers, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, mobile phones, cameras and other portable data storage devices.
We protect personal information that we hold from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure using both physical and electronic security measures which include secure premises, physical access restrictions, locked cabinets, video surveillance, secure databases, password access, anti-virus software, data encryption and firewalls.
If we hold any personal information that we no longer need for any of our purposes then we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the information unless we are required by law to retain the information.
How we disclose personal information
We disclose personal information to third parties for the purpose of carrying out our medical functions and activities. If you are a patient we will only disclose your personal information with your consent or where otherwise required or authorised by law. For example, we may disclose your personal information to:
- your authorised representatives in connection with providing our products or services that you request or your attendance at or participation in an event, function or activity organised by us
- your other health care providers including doctors, specialists, pathology providers, radiology providers and hospitals
- your health insurer in connection with providing you with medical services quality assurance and accreditation providers
- medical researchers and medical registers in connection with improving community healthcare (e.g. diabetes register, pap smear register, etc)
- our service providers that assist us to carry out our medical functions and activities including our general practitioners, registrars, nurses, medical administrators information technology providers, printing and mailing providers, training providers, payment gateway providers, recruitment agencies, insurance providers, billing and debt recovery providers, and professional advisers
- our related companies, agents, partners, affiliates or other trusted entities that assist us to carry out our medical functions and activities
- government departments, agencies or bodies in connection with carrying out our medical functions and activities
These third parties may be located in Australia or other countries including Italy in which these third parties are located
We will not disclose your personal information to any other third parties without your consent except where required or authorised by law. For example, we will not sell, trade or rent your personal information to any third party for marketing purposes without your consent.
How you may access and correct your personal information
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, any of your personal information that we hold. You should promptly notify us if you become aware that any of your personal information that we hold is inaccurate or out-of-date.
We will respond within a reasonable time to a request by you for access to your personal information. We will give you access to your personal information in the manner that you request if it is reasonable and practicable to do so. If we decide not to give you access to your personal information then we will give you written reasons for our decision.
We will respond within a reasonable time to a request by you for the correction of your personal information. If we correct any of your personal information that we have previously disclosed to another organisation then you may request us to notify that other organisation of the correction. If we decide not to correct any of your personal information then we will give you written reasons for our decision and you may request us to associate with the information a statement apparent that it is incorrect.
If you wish to access, correct or update any of your personal information that we hold, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details below. You will be required to verify your identity before you will be permitted to access, correct or update any of your personal information that we hold. We may charge a fee for giving you access to your personal information.
How to make an enquiry or complaint
If you have an enquiry or complaint about our handling of your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details below. A complaint about our handling of your personal information should first be made in writing to our Privacy Officer setting out details of your complaint.
Our Privacy Officer is responsible for dealing with all enquiries and investigating complaints about our handling of personal information and will respond within a reasonable time after receiving an enquiry or complaint.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint then you may take your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner which may be contacted using the following contact details:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Address: GPO Box 5218, Sydney, NSW 2001
7. How we update our Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time to take into account changes in our information handling practices by publishing an updated version of our Privacy Policy on our Website. You should regularly review the most recent version of our Privacy Policy available on our Website.
8. How to contact us
You may contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details below:
Privacy Officer: Mrs Jan Rigano
Ashford Advanced Eye Care
Phone: 8293 2700
Email: ashfordeye@internode.on.net
Address: Unit 1 / 7 Greenhill Road Wayville SA 5034
This Privacy Policy is effective as of 12th March 2014