Privacy Policy
What is this policy about?
We are committed to protecting your privacy in your dealings with us. This policy explains how we manage personal information, what kinds of personal information we hold, why we hold it, and how we collect, store and handle it.
Like most private health businesses in Australia, we are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (including the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Laws). This Policy is intended to reflect our obligations under the Privacy Laws.
When we refer to “clients” or “you” below, we mean both former and current clients, as well as people who make inquiries about our products and services (i.e. potential clients).
What kinds of personal information do we collect and hold?
To provide evidence-based speech pathology services to our clients, we need to know personal information about them and others, including:
• names, ages, genders, and other identifying information
• Helping Children With Autism (HCWA), Better Start and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) details
• Medicare and health fund details (including Medicare numbers and health fund insurers and the extent of their coverage)
• developmental, medical, ethnic, language, cultural and social histories (including medications, diagnoses, surgeries, and allergies)
• disabilities and impairments
• family histories, to the extent they may be relevant to our assessment, diagnosis and/or treatment of clients
• education histories
• hobbies, motivations, interests, and activities in which clients and their families participate
How do we collect personal information?
We collect personal information by telephone (e.g. when you first call us to book an appointment for yourself or your child), pages on our social media sites (e.g. on our Facebook site), through our client questionnaires, by written letters, reports and other documents (e.g. through doctors reports you provide to us), through emails, SMS and other forms of electronic communication, and in interviews and other interactions in our clinic.
Who do we collect personal information from?
We collect personal information from clients or someone authorised to act on the behalf of clients (e.g. their parents, carers or guardians). Wherever practicable, we will ask for the information directly. However, we may need to contact others when relevant to a client’s circumstances (e.g. when working with clients who cannot communicate their needs without the assistance of others). In these cases, we will, where practicable, make you aware of the fact that we have collected this information and the circumstances of the collection.
When you give us information about other people, we rely on you to have obtained their prior consent and on you to tell them of the types of third parties we may provide the information to and why.
Why do we collect personal information?
We collect personal information to deliver, review and improve the services that we provide.
If we didn’t collect this information, we wouldn’t be able to carry out our business or provide services to you in accordance with the standards required by law and the Speech Pathology
Australia Code of Ethics. If you do not provide the personal information that we request, we would not be able to carry out our business and provide our services to you.
More specifically, we need personal information (including health information) to provide clients with assessment, diagnosis and management services related to their speech, language, voice, fluency, swallowing/feeding, and/or literacy-related issues, and/or multi modal communication. We also need this information:
• for administrative purposes of managing our business
• when necessary, to fulfil our obligations under law, regulation and/or Speech Pathology Australia’s Code of Ethics
• for billing management (either directly or through insurers or other compensation agencies)
• for discussions between speech pathologists and others working at our clinic related to the care of clients
• for discussions and other communications with your doctors, other health professionals, and education professionals in relation to your care
• for discussions with insurers
• for any insurance or compensation or other claims or litigation (including threatened litigation).
Who will see or have access to your personal information?
Your information may be seen or used by people working for or on behalf of Talk About It Speech Pathology and other service providers including (without limitation):
• our practice owner
• our speech pathologists
• our administrative staff
• doctors, other health professionals, and education professionals
• our third-party professional advisors and service providers, including (without limitation) our accountants, auditors, and IT service providers
We will not rent, sell, trade or otherwise disclose to any other third parties any personal information about you without your consent unless we are required by law.
Security of your personal information and data retention
We know that you are concerned about your personal information – especially your health information. We will use reasonable endeavours to prevent unauthorised access to, modification of, disclosure, misuse or loss of that information as required by law.
We have data protection measures in place (including password-locked computers) when we store personal information electronically. Our hard copy health records are stored in a locked filing cabinet on site accessible only to authorised staff.
If we no longer need personal information about you for any purpose described above, then we will take reasonable steps to destroy the information or to ensure that such information is de-identified. This obligation is subject to an important exception – by law, we may be required to retain health formation for a minimum period of time.
Access to and accuracy of your personal information
We take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information we collect about or from you is accurate, complete, up-to-date and relevant whenever it is used, collected or disclosed. You have a right to access your information if you wish (subject to any privilege or legal restrictions) and if it is reasonable and practicable to do so, we will give you access to the information in the manner requested by you.
If you believe personal information that we hold about you is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete or misleading, we will, on receipt of your request, take steps that are reasonable in the circumstances to correct the information.
Want more information?
If you have any questions about this policy, or have any concerns about the personal information you or others have given us about you, please contact Grace Heaton-Shawcross, Practice Owner/ Speech Pathologist on 0488 444 177.
More information on the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) can be found on the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.