Privacy policy

1. Purpose

The Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act) requires entities bound by the Australian Privacy Principles to have a privacy policy. This Privacy Policy outlines the handling practice of the PHN Support Program website which is jointly owned and operated by National Prescribing Service Limited (trading as NPS MedicineWise) and National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (referred to herein as the “Party”).

The Party takes your privacy seriously. In dealing with personal information, we comply with the Privacy Act and any relevant state and territory privacy legislation.

2. What is personal information?

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable whether the information or opinion is true or not and whether the information is recorded in a material form or not.

3. Who do we collect personal information from?

3.1. Directly from you

The Party may collect personal information about you directly from you.
We primarily collect information about you when you use or request a product or service, complete a survey, questionnaire or enrolment form or when you communicate with us by email, telephone, in writing or in person.

3.2. From other people

The Party may also obtain personal information from a third party.

3.3. From publicly available sources

The Party may collect personal information from the public domain, for example, from professional registers or websites.

4. Information collected by our websites

When you visit the PHN Support Program website, our web server may request your browser to create a cookie on your computer. A cookie is a small piece of information sent by our server to your browser by other sites.
Our cookies do not contain personal information about users. However, cookies can identify a user's browser. The cookies transferred by our website are used for such things as capturing information about a user's web browser, controlling a pop-up window or enabling login access to password protected areas of the website.
Our analytics systems use cookies to gather information regarding visitor activity to our websites. This is not used to identify you as an individual but is collated into aggregate results or classifications.
Third parties may also use their own cookies to collect non-personal information about your activities on our website. This information, which may be combined with information acquired from third parties, may be used to serve you promotional material that they believe you might be interested in based on the content you have viewed.
The cookies placed by third parties are subject to the privacy policies of these third parties. The Party have no control over these cookies.
If you do not wish to receive any cookies, you may set your browser to refuse them; go to the browser's help menu for instructions. Please note that some features of the PHN Support Program website may not work if cookies are disabled.

5. What types of personal information do we collect and why?

5.1. Types of information

The types of personal information that we collect will vary depending on your relationship with us. Sometimes we may need to collect sensitive information about you such as medical history of the consumer. Please note that we try and collect only the information that we need for a particular function and only hold it for as long as it remains necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. We only disclose your personal information (including sensitive information) for the purposes for which you gave it to us or for directly related purposes you would expect or if you agree.

5.2. We may use your personal information to:

conduct evaluations of our products, materials, programs and services
assist us in conducting or participating in pilot programs
invite you to participate in research or to inform you of our educational programs
subject to consent, create individual health stories which are published and/or broadcast to promote the quality use of medicines and/or medical tests and record the background information concerning the subject of the health story (including the individual's consent to appear in the same)
promote educational activities including events and conferences
contact individuals for feedback on products, materials, programs and services, and
assist us to perform our corporate and contractual obligations.

5.3. Use of images

The Party will seek your consent prior to any taking of a photo/image and the use (i.e. the publication) of the photo/image.
In some cases that consent may be implied, for example, the taking of photos at functions to be used in publications.
If the photo or image contains sensitive information about a person (for example, information relating to their health), we will obtain the relevant person's consent to take the photo/image and specify the uses to which it may be put.
This consent should be informed and freely given and signed by the individual whose information is to be collected and disclosed.
Child protection legislation requires that where the photo or image is that of a child, the child's parent or guardian must give permission.
Where the person under 18 years is sufficiently mature to consent on their own behalf, that person's consent should also be obtained.
Under the Privacy Act consents can be revoked at any time. If this occurs we will take all reasonable steps to cease using the image or photo from the time the consent is withdrawn.

6. How do we hold personal information?

The Party will hold personal information on databases, electronic and hard copy files.

7. Who do we disclose personal information to?

Personal information held by the Party is disclosed in accordance with the Privacy Act.

7.1. Disclosure to third parties

From time to time, information may be disclosed to our stakeholders.
Such information will be de-identified and remain confidential.
Third parties must undertake not to disclose to any person or entity any confidential information without prior approval in writing from us unless the confidential information is required by law to be disclosed or a court or government department.

7.2 Contractors and collaborators

The Party may disclose your information to contractors to whom we outsource certain functions or which provide services to us, such as, bodies that assist in conducting or analysing research and print, data capture, mailing and distribution houses.
We take all reasonable measures with our contractors to ensure they comply with the privacy standards set out in the Privacy Act and any relevant state and territory legislation.

7.3. Where disclosure is required or authorised by law, courts or government departments

The Party may also disclose personal information in circumstances where it has statutory obligations or is otherwise required to do so by law, a court or a government department (including the Department of Health).
We do not supply, sell or rent the personal information we collect to unrelated third parties for the purpose of marketing those third parties' products or services.

8. Overseas disclosure

The Party will not disclose any personal information to overseas entities.

9. Protection and security

We take preserving and protecting a person's identity very seriously and it is a key responsibility and right of all our staff, customers and partners.
We carefully oversee the management of personal information in accordance with this policy and privacy legislation.
We maintain the confidentiality and security of personal information by restricting access to only those staff and service providers with a legitimate need to access it.
Security measures are in place to prevent the misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure of personal information.

10. Access and correction

Under the Privacy Act you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you. There are some limited exceptions to this set out in the Privacy Act.
If you make an access request, the Party will ask you to verify your identity and to specify what information you require. We may ask the reason for your request so we can assist you most effectively. However, you are under no obligation to provide a reason if you do not wish to.
You also have a right to request that we correct information held by us that you consider is not accurate, complete or up-to-date. If we make a correction and have disclosed the incorrect information to others, you can ask us to tell them about the correction. We must do so unless there is a valid reason not to.
You can seek access to your personal information held by us and/or seek correction of that personal information by contacting the person set out in section 13 of this policy.
Any person receiving direct marketing from us can request that no further direct marketing be sent by contacting us by telephone, mail or email to unsubscribe from our products, services or communications.

11. Complaints

If you believe that there has been a breach or potential breach of this Privacy Policy or the privacy legislation, please contact the Party by phone, fax or mail immediately at the details set out in section 11 of this policy and ask for your complaint or concern to be directed to the Privacy Officer.
We take breaches seriously and have procedures to help identify and resolve a breach, potential breach or complaint as quickly as possible. This includes appropriate escalation processes leading ultimately to notification processes in the event of a breach.
You will be notified of the process for dealing with the breach or potential breach. Your complaint will be thoroughly investigated and a response provided within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your complaint you may contact the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner at its website www.oaic.gov.au or by telephone on 1300 363 992 who may investigate your complaint and has the power to award compensation against us in appropriate circumstances.

12. Further information

Email: SCHN-NCIRS@health.nsw.gov.au

Phone: (612) 9845 1418

Mail:
NCIRS
Kids Research, Sydney Children's Hospitals Network
Cnr Hawkesbury Rd & Hainsworth St
Westmead

Post: Locked Bag 4001
Westmead NSW 2145, Australia