Thorne Harbour Health takes your privacy seriously. Thorne Harbour Health has a legal and ethical obligation to ensure the privacy of information relating to individual clients and their families.

Thorne Harbour Health’s Privacy and Confidentiality Policy reflects the principles outlined in the Health Records Act 2001, the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and the Privacy & Data Protection Act 2014 (Victoria) regarding the collection, use, disclosure, access and protection of any personal or health information we hold. Note that other legislation, such as the My Health Records Act 2012, may have implications for the privacy and confidentiality of personal information held by Thorne Harbour Health.

In line with these principles, Thorne Harbour Health policy requires the organisation:

• To only collect and use personal information with the client’s prior knowledge and consent;
• To only use the personal information provided for the purpose for which it was collected. This may include health service provision, research and auditing purposes;
• To remove personal information from records when it is no longer required, unless it is legally required to be retained and archived;
• To ensure policies and procedures are in place to protect the personal information we hold;
• To ensure Thorne Harbour Health’s Privacy & Confidentiality Policy is available for clients and the public to access;
• Not to disclose personal information to other services or individuals without consent;
• Not to disclose personal information to other institutions and authorities unless required by law or other regulations or statutes.

Clients and individuals have the right to access their personal or health information held by Thorne Harbour Health. Such requests are to be in writing using the Thorne Harbour Health Request to Access Client Care Records form, and addressed to the relevant service manager.

The Privacy Act 1988 requires Thorne Harbour Health to notify you and the Australian Information Commissioner if we become aware that your personal information has been breached. Thorne Harbour Health services funded by the Department of Health and Human Services must also notify the Department of the breach or possible breach.

Thorne Harbour Health participates in quality assurance, research and reporting activities that utilise non-identifiable client information and aggregate client data.

Thorne Harbour Health also collects data to track the performance of our website and social media pages. This is not used to identify individual users or collect personal information.

Feedback provided on Thorne Harbour Health’s website or social media pages about Thorne Harbour Health services and programs is downloaded, de-identified and used by Thorne Harbour Health for service and program improvement.

Email/social media addresses provided via the Thorne Harbour Health website or social media will only be used to respond to specific user queries and will not be added to any mailing lists or disclosed to other parties without the user’s knowledge and consent.

Thorne Harbour Health’s Privacy & Confidentiality Policy and Client Confidentiality Procedure are available via the Thorne Harbour Health website.

For further information about Thorne Harbour Health’s Privacy and Confidentiality Policy, please contact Thorne Harbour Health via www.thorneharbour.org/contact, or call Thorne Harbour Health’s Privacy Officer on Tel: +61 3 9865 6700 or Toll Free: 1800 134 840.

If you feel the privacy of your health information or personal details has been compromised in any way at Thorne Harbour Health, please contact our Privacy Officer (contact details as above) about how to make a complaint.

Complaints about privacy and confidentiality breaches can also be directed to:

Health Complaints Commissioner
Tel: 1300 582 113 / Online: https://hcc.vic.gov.au / Visit: 26th Floor, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

NDIS Commission
Tel: 1800 035 544 / Online: www.ndiscommission.gov.au / Visit: 913 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill VIC 3128

Australian Information Commissioner
Tel: 1300 363 992 / Online: www.oaic.gov.au/recomplaint / Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au / Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney, NSW 2001

Victorian Information Commissioner
Tel: 1300 006 842 / Online: www.cpdp.vic.gov.au / Email: privacy@cpdp.vic.gov.au / Post: PO Box 24274, Melbourne VIC 3001