Privacy Policy

Reviewed and finalised August 2024.

 

ABOUT THIS POLICY

 

Purpose

Limestone Speech is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information we collect and hold about individuals.

This Privacy Policy explains how Limestone Speech manages the personal information we collect, use and disclose.

In this Privacy Policy, Limestone Speech means Bianca Vanstone as trustee for Limestone Speech Trust (ABN 39 947 597 050), and is a private speech pathology practice.

 

HOW LIMESTONE SPEECH HANDLES YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Why Limestone Speech collects your personal information

In order to provide you with the health care services that you have requested, Limestone Speech will need to collect and use your personal information. If you provide incomplete or inaccurate information to us or withhold personal and health information from us we may not be able to provide you with the services you are seeking.

 

What information does Limestone Speech collect?

We will only collect your personal information where it will help us improve your experience or where we need it for the particular function or activity we are carrying out. We collect information from you that is necessary to provide you with speech pathology services and to manage our relationship with you.

The information we collect includes:

• your name;
• your date of birth;
• your mailing and/or street address
• your health fund details
• your sensitive information such as information about your health history and family history.

We require this information to assist the Speech Pathologist to diagnose and treat you, for our internal record keeping, and to contact and communicate with you. This may include sending newsletters or promotional information which we consider may be of interest to you.

 

How does Limestone Speech collect health information?

We will usually collect your health information directly from you. Sometimes, we may need to collect information about you from a third party (such as a relative or another health service provider). Where we collect information about you from a third party we will notify you of this collection (unless we are not legally permitted to do so).

 

How does Limestone Speech use your information?

Limestone Speech uses your personal information to provide speech pathology services to you, to manage our relationship with you and to contact you in relation to matters concerning your care or other matters which we consider may be of interests to you. We may also use your information for other purposes permitted under the Privacy Act 1988.

Who might we disclose your information to?

We may disclose your information to the following people:

(a) Disclosure to other health or education professionals involved in your treatment:

Your personal information will generally only be used by the Speech Pathologist involved in your care, however, on occasion your care may be provided by a number of health professionals (for example a Speech Pathologist, Occupational Therapist and/ or Psychologist) working or consulting together. We may disclose your information to these health professionals as part of the process of providing your care and to other health professionals involved in your care.

(b) The referrer:

Limestone Speech will usually send a discharge summary to the referrer (i.e., your medical practitioner) following discharge from Limestone Speech or at other times, as required for your care.

If you do not wish us to provide a copy of your discharge summary to the referrer you must let us know. Also, if the referrer’s details have changed please let us know.

(c) Relatives, guardians, close friends or legal representatives:

We may provide information about your condition to your parent, child, other relatives, close personal friends, guardians, or to a responsible person as authorised by you, unless you tell us that you do not wish us to disclose your health information to any such person.

d) Other uses and disclosures:

In order to provide the best possible environment in which to treat you, we may also use or disclose your personal and health information (including via our contractors), where necessary for:

• activities such as quality assurance processes, accreditation, audits, risk and claims management, patient satisfaction surveys and staff education and training;
• to create your file with us and book an appointment for you with us;
• internal invoicing, billing, record keeping and account management;
• to liaise with your health fund, Medicare or the National Disability Insurance Agency and where required provide information to your health fund, Medicare or the National Disability Insurance Agency to verify treatment provided to you;
• the purpose of sending you standard reminders, for example for appointments and follow-up care, by text message or email to the number or address which you have provided to us and other information which we consider may be of interest to you.

 

How we use and disclose sensitive information

Sensitive information is a sub-set of personal information that is given a higher level of protection under the Australian Privacy Principles. Sensitive information means information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional associations or memberships, philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or practices, criminal records, health information, or biometric information.

We will not collect sensitive information without your consent. The type of sensitive information we may collect about you includes your health information and where relevant, may also include information about your racial or ethnic origin or religion.

Provided you consent, your sensitive information will only be used and disclosed for purposes relating to the primary purpose for which the sensitive information was collected, including providing speech pathology services to you. In addiction to this, sensitive information may also be used or disclosed if required or authorised by law.

 

Overseas disclosure

We take reasonable steps to use Australian based third party service providers where possible. However, sometimes these providers are located outside of Australia or need to transfer your information outside of Australia to assist us in providing our services to you.

By providing us with personal information, you consent to the disclosure of your information outside of Australia and acknowledge that where we disclose personal information to a third party outside of Australia, we will only disclose the personal information necessary for the recipient to assist us in supplying our services to you.

Please note we use the following programs within Limestone Speech:

Halaxy (billing and health record management) - https://www.halaxy.com/article/privacy

G Suite (emails and organisation)- https://gsuite.google.com.au/intl/en_au/security

Xero (accounting) - https://www.xero.com/au/legal/privacy/

Snapforms (to collect your details) - https://snapforms.com.au/privacy-policy

PleaseSign (to complete Service Agreements) - https://pleasesign.com.au/privacy-policy

ActiveCampaign (to send you relevant emails) - https://www.activecampaign.com/legal/privacy-policy

Asana (for internal organisation and management) - https://asana.com/terms#privacy-policy

Coviu (for telehealth appointments) - https://help.coviu.com/en/articles/412368-privacy-security-of-data

 

Access to and correction of your information

You have a right to access the personal and health information that we hold about you. You can also request an amendment to your personal and health information should you believe that it is inaccurate.

If we do not agree to change your medical record/personal information in accordance with your request, we will provide details of our refusal and permit you to make a statement of the requested changes and we will enclose this with your record.

Should you wish to obtain access to or request changes to your health record you can ask for our Client Coordinator (see details below) who can give you more detailed information about Limestone Speech’s access and correction procedure.

Please note that Limestone Speech may recover reasonable costs associated with supplying this information to you.

 

Restricting use of your information

To unsubscribe from our email database or opt-out of any direct marketing communications, please contact our Client Coordinator (see details below) or opt-out using the opt-out facilities provided in the communication.

 

Data Security

Limestone Speech will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information which we may collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

Limestone Speech will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes during storage, collection, processing, transfer and destruction of the information. We use technologies and processes such as access control procedures, network firewalls, encryption and physical security to protect your privacy.

Information is stored in physical locked storage or in secure electronic databases. Limestone Speech has taken all reasonable care to ensure that all electronic databases and systems used are secure and maintain client data privacy and confidentiality. Only authorised employees and students of Limestone Speech have access to the secure physical and electronic database. You are permitted to request access or to request changes to you or your child’s information at any time by contacting Limestone Speech.

 

What to do if you have a complaint about privacy issues

If:

(a) you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy;

(b) Limestone Speech does not agree to provide you with access to your personal information

(c) you have a complaint about our information handling practices,

You can lodge a complaint with or contact our Client Coordinator on the details below. We will promptly review your complaint and provide a response to you. If, after lodging a complaint with us, you are not happy with how we managed your concerns, you can contact the Australian Privacy Commission, available at https://www.oaic.gov.au

 

How to contact us if you have a complaint about privacy issues

By letter: Client Coordinator, Limestone Speech, PO Box 2162 Naracoorte SA 5271

By email: admin@limestonespeech.com.au

By telephone: 1300 911 561

 

Problems?

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, please let us know what the problem is in writing to the email address shown at the top of this policy. We will do our best to help and will respond to your concerns within 30 days. If, after lodging a complaint with us, you are not happy with how we managed your concerns, you can contact the Australian Privacy Commission, available at https://www.oaic.gov.au.

 

Updates

We regularly review and may update our privacy policy from time to time. The updated provisions will apply from the date they are posted on our website, so we recommend that you revisit this Privacy Policy when you use our services.

 

HOW LIMESTONE SPEECH HANDLES YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WHEN YOU VISIT OUR WEBSITE

This section of our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal information which is collected from our website: www.limestonespeech.com.au. This Privacy Policy applies to your use of our website and the use of any of the facilities on our website.

 

Collection

When you use our website, we do not attempt to identify you as an individual user and we will not collect personal information about you unless you specifically provide this to us. Sometimes, we may collect your personal information if you choose to provide this to us via an online form or by email, for example, if you:

• submit a general enquiry via our contacts page;
• register to receive eNewsletters
• send a written complaint or enquiry to our Client Coordinator. When you use our website, our Internet Service Provider (ISP) may record and log for statistical purposes the following information about your visit:
• your computer address;
• your top level name (for example .com. gov. org. au etc);
• the date and time of your visit;
• the pages and documents you access during your visit
• the browser you are using.

Our website management agent may use statistical data collected by our ISP to evaluate the effectiveness of our website.

 

Cookies

We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. A “cookie” is a device that allows our server to identify and interact more effectively with your computer. Cookies do not identify individual users, but they do identify your ISP and your browser type. This website uses temporary cookies. This means that upon closing your browser, the temporary cookie assigned to you will be destroyed and no personal information is maintained which will identify you at a later date.

Personal information such as your email address is not collected unless you provide it to us. We do not disclose domain names or aggregate information to third parties other than agents who assist us with this website and who are under obligations of confidentiality. You may be able to configure your browser to accept or reject all cookies and to notify you when a cookie is used. We suggest that you refer to your browser instructions or help screens to learn more about these functions. However, please note that if you configure your browser so as not to receive any cookies, a certain level of functionality of the Limestone Speech website and other websites may be lost.

 

Links to third party websites

We may create links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices employed by websites that are linked from our website.

 

Use and disclosure

We will use any personal information collected via our website in accordance with our Privacy Policy.