Privacy policy

Introduction

At Clarity Hearing + Balance we care deeply about ensuring you get the best hearing health and hearing loss advice and treatment possible. In order to provide our services to you, we may need to collect personal information about yourself and your health.

We want to ensure that you know we treat this information in an appropriate manner and in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

The Act also provides additional protection for health information that we are required to comply with when we collect information about you when providing you with a health service. We are required to comply with these additional requirements applicable to health information, even if that information doesn’t directly relate to your health. State and Territory health legislation may also be applicable to us when we deal with your health information.

What does “personal information” mean?

Personal information is any information about you that identifies you or by which your identity may be reasonably determined.

What personal information do we collect?

The types of information we collect, depending on the services and products we are providing to you, include:

First name;
Middle name;
Last name;
Preferred name;
Date of birth;
Mailing address;
Street address;
e-mail address;
Preferred contact name
Preferred contact details as required
Information concerning your health and disabilities including:
- Assessment results and details
- Treatment history;
- Your medical history;
- Services and products provided to you;
Records of communications with you;
Requests made by you;
Transaction details associated with a purchase of goods or services from us;
Credit card and account details (including credit verification check) when processing transactions; and
Any additional information provided by you to us.

We may also record anonymous information which tells us about visitors to our website and other online properties (eg social media sites) but not the identity of those visitors. For example, we may collect information about the date, time and duration of those visits and which pages of our website are being commonly accessed. We may also use “cookies” that are small pieces of information that allow an organisation to track websites browsed by you. You may be able to adjust your browser to disable cookies. However, if you do disable cookies, you may not be able to interact with our website or take advantage of the improved functionality that cookies enable.

Rest assured though that where information is related to your personal health information, we will only use this information with your consent. However, in the case of an emergency involving a serious threat to your health where you are unable to provide consent, where it is necessary in order to treat you, we will provide the relevant information required.

We use that information to:

Send you information, correspondence and other communications you have requested;
Provide you with services and products that you have requested
Book appointments at your request
Process a competition entry
Process an employment application

How do we collect your personal information?

We will always collect your personal information directly from you where possible. Where we seek personal information and we are unable to obtain it from you directly, we will obtain your consent before information is obtained from another party.

We may collect personal information from you through:

A phone conversation with you;
An email from you;
A conversation with our administration team;
A consultation with one of our clinical team;
A third-party authorised to provide the information to us (eg previous provider);
A letter sent;
Through a form, hardcopy or digital online;
Your treating specialists;
Your general practitioner;
Hospitals in which you have been treated; or
Through family members, friends, carers or employers as appropriate.

It is possible that we may collect personal information about you from other sources without your direct knowledge. Examples of this may be where funds are transferred from your bank account into our account and your bank account details are advised to us.

How do we hold your personal information?

We hold personal information:

physically:
- on our premises;
- with third party storage providers in Australia;
electronically:
- on internal servers;
- with a third party data storage provider in Australia;

We access electronic data from internal and external servers by secure login/connection.

Our agreements with third party service providers contain obligations relating to confidentiality and security.

The purpose of collecting and using your personal information

Clarity Hearing + Balance collects and holds personal information about you in order to provide our services to you. Personal information is used only for the purpose for which it is submitted or for such other secondary purposes that are related to that purpose, unless we disclose other uses in this privacy policy or at the time of collection.

We collect your personal information for purposes including:

To provide you with our services and products and send communications requested by you;
For internal administration, management, quality control, marketing, planning, product or service development and research; to answer inquiries, and provide information or advice about existing and new products or services;
To conduct account management and payment processing including billing, external payment and accounting systems;
To conduct competitions run by us;
To process employment applications;
Any purpose made known to you at the time of collection of your personal information.

At any time, you may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us and we will ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.

Who do we disclose your personal information to?

We may disclose your personal information to a person outside of Clarity Hearing + Balance:

where necessary in connection with the purpose for which it was collected; or
if required by law; or
if you consent to the disclosure; or
otherwise as permitted by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Where possible, we will require you to specifically consent to any use or disclosure of your personal information. Your consent will usually be required in writing. However, where necessary, we may accept your verbal consent to disclose particular information providing the services and products you have requested.

Your consent may also be implied from the service or product we are providing to you. For example, if we are ordering hearing devices for you or providing a report for an assessment requested by a third-party, it is implicit that some of your personal information may need to be disclosed to other parties or to relevant government bodies.

Some examples of persons outside Clarity Hearing + Balance to whom we may disclose your personal information are:

government bodies (e.g. Medicare, Australian Government Hearing Services program, National Disability Insurance Agency, WorkCover Queensland;
third-parties who have requested specific assessments (e.g. your employer, your insurance company, your medical GP or treating specialists)
contractors (who provide administrative or secretarial services to us);
As required or authorised under law or in co-operation with any government authority, or as otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act 1988 and applicable State and Territory health legislation.

The security of your personal information

We will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard personal information that is held by us, either on a physical file or on computer, from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

To ensure that your personal information is secure, Clarity Hearing + Balance employs a number of means, including:

external and internal premises security;
the requirement for all employees to enter into a confidentiality agreement;
computer firewall protection;
up-to-date technology and computer maintenance to prevent unauthorised access;
restricted access to personal files and information;
document handling and shredding procedures with respect to personal information.

When we no longer require your personal information we will make an electronic copy of any hardcopy files for retention and securely destroy the physical file. The information will be deleted from our main computer system after seven years if you request us to do so.

Accessing your personal information

At any time you may give notice to Clarity Hearing + Balance that you wish to access your personal information that we hold.

In order that this information is made available to you notice is required so that we may have the documentation ready for your inspection. Where the information is held in safe custody or offsite, we reserve the right to charge a fee to cover the cost of retrieval and supply of the information to you.

We will endeavour to handle all requests for access to personal information as quickly as possible and provide that information to you within seven days of receipt of that request. However, some requests may take longer to process because of the volume of documents and information held by us.

You may only access your own personal information. Any personal information held on your file, in respect of any other person, will not be disclosed to you.

Clarity Hearing + Balance retains the right to deny access to personal information. If you are not entitled to access information, we will provide you with reasons why.

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request amendment of it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we amend information relating to your health, we will mark the original information appropriately but may not delete it, as it may be necessary by law for us to retain a complete record.

If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, then we will provide you with reasons why and add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree with it.

Should you wish to access your personal information, please contact Clarity Hearing + Balance on (07) 4779 1566 or in writing to PO Box 3808, Hermit Park Qld 4012. When you access your personal information, we may require proof of identify from you and will require you to sign a document stating that you have accessed your information.

Ensuring your personal information is up to date

The effective and proper conduct of your legal matter can only occur when the personal information that we hold is current and up to date. In this regard, it is important that, during the course of your relationship with Clarity Hearing + Balance, you notify us of any changes to your personal information which we hold, including our contact details.

If personal information we hold about you is not accurate you may request that it be corrected by contacting us on (07) 4779 1566 or in writing to PO Box 3808, Hermit Park Qld 4012.

Email communications

Clarity Hearing + Balance will correspond with you by email where you consent to that occurring. Where you communicate with us by email, or provide us with your email address, you are taken to have consented to us communicating with you by email (unless you explicitly tell us otherwise). Email may not be a secure way to communicate your personal information to us and as such, we recommend that personal information should be delivered to us through secure means.

Direct marketing

We may from time to time use your personal information, such as your address or contact details, to provide you with information about other services that we offer.

If at any time you do not wish to receive any information about these services please feel free to contact us on (07) 4779 1566 or [email protected] and we will not send you any further material.

Changes to this privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be published on our website.

Complaints about breaches of privacy

If at any time you believe that Clarity Hearing + Balance has wrongfully disclosed your personal information or has breached this privacy policy, then you may lodge a complaint with us by phoning (07) 4779 1566 or in writing to PO Box 3808, Hermit Park Qld 4012.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact the Australian Information Commissioner by phoning 1300 363 992 or writing to the Director of Privacy Case Management, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001.