Newcastle Ultrasound for Women (NUFW)
Newcastle Ultrasound for Women Pty Limited (ABN 31106695167) (NUFW, we, our, us) are committed to protecting the privacy and the rights of individuals in relation to their personal and health information. This document is our privacy policy, and it tells you how we collect and manage personal and health information.
NUFW shares rooms with Genea Newcastle Pty Ltd and as such personal information will be stored within the computer system that we share. Our reception staff work for both businesses and other staff will also have access to personal information.
We are subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act) and, as a health services provider, the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) (the HRIP Act). The Privacy Act sets out Privacy Principles (APPs) and the HRIP Act sets out Health Privacy Principles (HPPs).
What is ‘personal information’?
When used in this privacy policy, the term ‘personal information’ has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act. In general terms, it means any information that can be used to personally identify you. This includes your name, address, email address or telephone number. If the information we collect personally identifies you or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information is considered to be personal information.
What ‘personal information’ does NUFW collect and hold?
We collect the following types of personal information:
name
mailing and street address
email addresses
telephone numbers
age and date of birth
How do we collect your personal information?
We collect your information in the following ways:
during conversations with you, over the phone and/or face to face
from your referring doctor or fertility specialist
We will collect personal and health information directly from you wherever reasonably practicable. However, sometimes we may obtain health information about you from your referring doctor, fertility specialist or other treating doctors. Sometimes we may obtain health information about you from your partner or family member when it is not practicable to obtain it from you. If this ever happens, we will always confirm that information with you as soon as possible.
Collection of non-identifiable information
We may also collect some information that is not personal information because it does not identify you. For example, we may collect anonymous answers to surveys or aggregated information about how our website is used.
In some cases, we may also collect your personal information through the use of cookies or your IP address. When you access our website, we may send you a ‘cookie’ (which is a small summary file containing a unique ID number) and record your IP address. This enables us to recognise your device (ie computer, tablet or smartphone) each time you visit our website. It also enables us to keep track of what you view so that we may display information which might be more relevant to your situation. We also use this information to observe traffic patterns, to determine which areas of our website have been visited and to measure traffic patterns in the aggregate. We use this to research our users’ habits so that we can improve our services.
If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser so that your computer does not accept them.
What is ‘health information’?
NUFW is a provider of health services. ‘Health information’ is a highly sensitive type of personal information and is subject to further protection as it contains more private and comprehensive details about an individual. Health information is personal information or an opinion about:
a person’s physical or mental health or disability
a person’s express wishes about the future provision of health services for themselves
a health service provided, or to be provided to a person
‘Health information’ includes your personal information. Once you are a patient of NUFW (or if we have collected health information about you), we also treat your personal information as ‘health information’ and all personal and health information is also protected by the HRIP Act.
For what purposes do we collect, hold, and use your personal and health information?
Your personal and health information is collected and used to ensure you can be informed about the services that we provide, that you receive the best possible care from NUFW, and for us to manage the health services we provide to you effectively. It will also be used to:
send communications (including results) to you and your treating doctors
provide information and advice
conduct business processing functions
update our records and keep your contact details up to date
respond to any complaint made by you
comply with any law, rule, regulation, lawful and binding determination, decision, or direction of a regulator, or in co-operation with any governmental authority
It will also be used internally for the administrative, marketing, planning, product or service development, quality control and research purposes of NUFW and its related bodies corporate.
What happens if we can’t collect your personal or health information?
If any of the personal or health information you provide is not accurate or complete, or you choose not to provide us with your personal information, it may detrimentally affect the services that we provide or we may be unable to provide you with our services at all.
Keeping records accurate and secure
NUFW will take all reasonable steps to ensure your information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We will hold your health information across both electronic and hard copy form and information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed and when the legislative period relevant to medical records has expired.
NUFW uses a patient identification numbering system whereby a unique number is issued to each patient at the time of his or her first visit. It remains connected to your name and other personal identifying information as it is not practicable for us to provide health services individuals anonymously or under pseudonyms..
We have an internal policy with respect to how confidential information will be treated in-house to protect your privacy from accidental disclosure. They include the following directives that:
only employees who have a need to view your file will do so
documents containing personal information are not left on desks or workstations where they may be visible to unauthorised persons
patient lists and medical records are covered when travelling in lifts and corridors
patient information is not discussed in public areas where it may be overheard
that computer screens are all turned away from the public and have screen savers to reduce the chance of casual observation
NUFW has in place the following IT protection:
our website payment mechanism is PCI compliant, and security is provided by the participating financial institution
we take appropriate steps to ensure the operation and effectiveness of our ICT security measures in order that they remain responsive to changing threats and other issues that may impact the security of your personal or health information
As our website and email is linked to the internet, and the internet and email transmitted over it is inherently insecure, we cannot provide assurance regarding the security of transmission of information you communicate to us on-line or via email. We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted. Accordingly, any information which you transmit to us online or via email is transmitted at your own risk.
To whom may we disclose your information?
We may disclose your personal and health information to our employees, related bodies corporate, contractors, and service providers for the purposes of us providing the health service to you and managing our business. We may also disclose your personal and health information to healthcare professionals directly involved in your treatment. However, if you are hospitalised as a result of your treatment and your records are needed urgently, they will be forwarded to the relevant medical professional without waiting for written consent.
Health information may also be provided to third parties if we are legally obliged to do so by a court subpoena, statutory authority, search warrant, coronial summons or to defend a legal action. If information is requested by a third party connected to you it must be accompanied by an original written authorisation from you to release that information.
Your personal and health information will never be disclosed other than as described in this policy.
How can you access and correct your personal information?
You may request access to any information we hold about you at any time. Where we hold information about you that you are entitled to access, we will provide you with suitable means of accessing it. We will not charge you for making the request. In circumstances where you request a copy there may be a fee of $50.00 to cover our administrative costs.
If you believe that the information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete, or inaccurate, then you may request us to amend it. We will consider if the information requires amendment and amend it if we conclude that it requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, then we will add a note to the information stating that you disagree with it.
Communications
We may contact you directly or send you communications and information about our services that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, phone and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will use that method of communication. In addition, at any time you may opt-out of receiving communications from us by contacting us (see the details below). We will not provide your personal information to other organisations for the purposes of such communications.
Do we disclose your personal information to anyone outside Australia?
No personal or health information is disclosed to parties outside Australia except in circumstances where you request and consent to its release
Complaints
If you believe that your privacy has been breached, please contact us using the contact information below and provide details of the incident so that we may investigate it.
All complaints will be dealt with confidentially. We will in the first instance contact you to confirm what investigation action will occur, conduct the internal investigation into the alleged breach and communicate the outcome to you in writing and invite a response to our conclusion about the complaint. If we receive a response from you, we will also assess it and advise if we have changed our view.
You may also contact the relevant Privacy Commission – either with respect to the Privacy Act at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au OR the HRIP Act at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner New South Wales at www.ipc.nsw.gov.au
Our contact details
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, wish to no longer receive communications or believe your privacy has been infringed, we ask that you contact our Sonographer in charge.
Please address correspondence to:
office@nufw.com.au or post to
Clinic Manager
Newcastle Ultrasound for Women
Suite 2/23 Merewether Street
Merewether 2291
Changes to our privacy policy
We may change this policy from time to time. Any updated versions of this privacy policy will be posted on our website.