Coastal Audiology Privacy Policy
Your privacy is important to us and we take the responsibility of handling your personal information very seriously. Our Privacy Policy describes in detail how we collect and handle your personal information, who we exchange your information with, how you can access and correct your information and how you can make privacy complaints.
This Privacy Policy applies to the services offered by Coastal Audiology.
Statement of Confinement
We are committed to protecting your privacy and any personal information we collect. Coastal Audiology complies with the Guidelines to the National Privacy Principles 2001, which support the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwth). This policy explains how we may collect, use, disclose and otherwise handle personal and sensitive information.
We are committed to safeguarding personal privacy. This means we recognise you have a right to control how your personal information is collected and used. Providing personal information is an act of trust and it is taken seriously. Unless consent is otherwise given, Coastal Audiology will only collect and use personal information as set out below.
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy personal information may mean some or all of the following: your name, contact details, date of birth, emergency contact details, other identification details, payment history, medical history and treatment details, before and after photographs and other sensitive information.
Collecting Personal Information
We will not collect or monitor any personal information about you without your consent. The only personal information collected is what is provided voluntarily by yourself.
We collect personal information primarily to enable us to provide you with our services. We may also use the information for marketing to you or for any other purpose permitted under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwth).
You don’t need to identify yourself when you deal with us (e.g. to find out more about treatments or products) however in certain situations we will only deal with individuals who have identified themselves to us.
When a treatment or product is purchased personal information will be requested in order to provide the requested treatment or product, provide updated information, and advise of other treatments and products which may be of interest. You are not obligated to provide personal information however failure to do so may result in our clinic being unable to provide services or products to you.
Personal information is collected directly from yourself both when you book in online and when you complete a questionnaire with us at the time of your appointment.
Collecting Sensitive Information
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy sensitive information means the information you have disclosed to us about your physical and mental health and well-being.
Sensitive information will only ever be used for providing services to clients. Such information will not be used or disclosed for any other purposes without consent, except in cases when disclosure may be required by law or is necessary to protect the rights or property of the Earworx clinic, or any member of the public, or to lessen a serious threat to a person’s health or safety. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy sensitive information is a subset of personal information.
Using and Disclosing Your Personal Information
Personal Information will be used for the following primary purpose:
To fulfill obligations pursuant to a client’s request for, and our clinic agreement to provide, services, products and/or any other agreement between him/her and our clinic;
To render services to the client;
To provide information about products, services and/or special offers;
To obtain opinions or comments about products and/or services from members;
To record non-identifying statistical data for marketing analysis from clients.
We may employ other companies or service providers to assist us in providing our services, including (but not limited to) marketing, market research, mail-house services, hosting and product development services, analysis of client lists and/ or consulting services. These third parties may have access to personal information that is needed to perform their specific function. They cannot use that information for other purposes.
Personal information will only ever be used for providing services to clients. Such information will not be used or disclosed for any other purposes without consent, except in cases when disclosure may be required by law or is necessary to protect the rights or property of the Coastal Audiology clinic, or any member of the public, or to lessen a serious threat to a person’s health or safety.
Contact by Our Clinic
We do not send advertising information without obtaining your prior consent. If you receive communication from us which you do not wish to receive, you may remove your name from the marketing database by contacting us via the contact page on the Coastal Audiology website.
Individuals’ Right of Access
Individuals have the right to review personal and/or sensitive Information that may be recorded on our database. Information may be reviewed by submitting a written request for such access to your local Coastal Audiology clinic.
A request may be made to delete or amend personal and/or sensitive information, and all reasonable steps to delete the information will be made, except where it is required for legal reasons, which includes but is not limited to the proper maintenance of medical and health records. Deletion or amendment of information may result in us being unable to provide certain services including after sales services.
Storage and Security of Personal and or Sensitive Information
We take all reasonable steps to keep secure personal information recorded and to keep this information accurate and up to date. The personal information is stored on secure servers if in digital format. If in paper format, the data will be entered electronically and the paper copy professionally destroyed. Our employees are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal and/or sensitive information held by us. We only permit authorised personnel to access your information and information will only be disclosed to third parties where they have the appropriate authority. We destroy or de-identify personal information we no longer need or we are no longer required by law to keep, wherever possible.
Complaints Policy
We value your feedback as it will help us to improve the services we provide to you.
Our commitment:
Coastal Audiology is committed to delivering excellent services and client outcomes. Should you have any concerns, feedback, or complaints about a service you receive from us, we are committed to resolving these in a clearly defined, effective and transparent way.
Our staff are required to ensure that complaints received through all channels (be it complaints in any of our centres or through the Coastal Audiology website, social media, email, or telephone call) are captured in our systems so that they can be managed in accordance with our procedures.
How to make a complaint
1. You can lodge a complaint in the following ways:
- Talk to your audiologist or staff at Coastal Audiology. Explain what your concern or complaint is. If this cannot be resolved on the spot, ask to speak with the appropriate manager. Explain your concern to them, and why it hasn’t been resolved.
- Lodge an online form by using our “Contact Us” section of our website: coastalaudiology.com.au
- Send an email to [email protected]
Once we have received a complaint we will contact you within 2 business days of receiving your complaint to confirm your complaint was received.
2. You will be asked to provide the following details (if you have not already provided this information):
- your name, address, phone number and email
- the product or service you received from Coastal Audiology
- the name of the centre or location where you received the relevant product or service
- the details of your complaint
- the details of what action you are seeking in order to resolve your complaint
- how you wish to be contacted (telephone or email).
3. We will then investigate your complaint.
4. If you are not happy with how your complaint is being handled, you can request a review.
5. If you are requesting a refund, replacement or compensation for loss or damage, we will escalate your request to the appropriate person. This person will assess your entitlement under the Australian Consumer Law and once this assessment has been made, the outcome will be communicated to you.
6. Within 20 business days of you lodging a complaint, you will be provided with a written response explaining the outcome of the investigation, or if the investigation is still ongoing, a status report on the investigation.
If you are still unhappy
7. There are a number of professional bodies and government departments who may be able to assist with your complaint, including:
(a) contacting your hearing practitioner’s professional body: for example: Audiology Australia or the Australian College of Audiology.
(b) lodging a complaint with your state or territories may include the following:
(i) the Department of Health – for more information visit – www.hearingservices.gov.au
(ii) the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – for more information visit –www.accc.gov.au, or www.consumerlaw.gov.au
(iii) for the Office of the Australian Information Commission – for more information visit www.oaic.gov.au
(c) contacting your state or territory’s Health Care Complaints Commission.
(d) If you think we have breached the Privacy Act 1988, you have the right to contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 1300 363 992 or email [email protected]. Further information is available on their website: www.oaic.gov.au.
We are committed to responding to your feedback, continuously improving our service and offering tailored solutions to meet your needs.
Coastal Audiology reserves the right to review, amend, update and change this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect its practices and obligations. Any changes will take effect when they are made or posted on our website.