Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Sisters of Charity Outreach "Outreach" respects and upholds your rights to privacy protection under the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. The National Privacy Principles apply to us from their introduction on 21 December 2001.

This policy describes how we manage any personal information we have about you.

2. What personal information about me does Outreach hold?

Outreach may hold the following information about you

  • name, street, telephone number(s)
  • date of birth
  • email address
  • occupation
  • health information & welfare information
  • General Practitioner contact details
  • referring source
  • religious beliefs or affiliations
  • transaction details associated with services we have provided to you
  • any additional information provided to us by you
  • any information you provide to us through surveys

Outreach will destroy or de-identify personal information where it is no longer required for legal or other purposes.

3. What does Outreach do with my personal information?

We use personal information about you:

  • to provide services and care to you;
  • to assist Outreach in providing services and care to you or your family members at our facilities;
  • to assist with any calls you make to us;
  • for our internal administrative requirements

and with your consent:

  • to provide information to other agencies who provide necessary follow up treatment and ongoing care
  • research & development
  • service planning;
  • to communicate promotional offers and special events;
  • fundraising;
  • marketing

Outreach will not disclose personal information about you to any person except on a confidential basis to contractors that we use in the ordinary operation of our business, such as for data processing, printing or mailing, or where we are authorised or required by law.

You may at any time opt out of receiving any communications from us (other than as required for the operation of Outreach).

4. Security

Outreach stores personal information:

  • contained in paper based and other hard copy documents in a locked storage facility in our facilities and
  • contained in electronic records in a secure environment with password protection;

Such records are only accessible by those persons who require access to the personal information for the purpose of carrying out their employment and service as a volunteer.

5. Openness

You may request access to personal information we hold about you by writing to the Executive Directors at the address below. You do not have to provide a reason for requesting access. Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will endeavour to provide you with a suitable range of choices as to how you may access it (eg post or collection, fax or e-mail).

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may ask us to amend it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, then we will add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree with it.

Although all Outreach staff and volunteers are aware of and work within the National Privacy Principle and the Guidelines, all enquiries relating to personal information held by Outreach should be directed to the Executive Directors in the first instance. Any questions about this policy, or any complaint regarding treatment of your privacy by Outreach, should also be made in writing to the address below.

Our contact details are as follows:

Sisters of Charity Outreach
438 Victoria Street
DARLINGHURST NSW 2010
Phone: 8382 6430
Fax: 8382 6432
Email: outreach@stvincents.com.au

6. Miscellaneous

In this policy "personal information" and "health information" have the same meaning as under the Privacy Act.

This document represents our policy as at 21st December 2001. We may change this policy from time to time. Outreach may act outside this policy where necessary, however, any such act will not detract from or expand rights you have under the Privacy Act or other applicable legislation.

Consent to Use Information

Sisters of Charity Outreach "Outreach" endeavours to treat your personal and health information with the utmost confidentiality and will only release identifiable information to other parties with your consent or where required or authorised by law.

Sisters of Charity Outreach have embraced the new Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 and its National Privacy Principles.

You are under no obligation to provide consent to the use of your personal information for any of the purposes described below. In the event that you do not consent, we will respect your wishes and will not use the information for that purpose in any identified format.

Outreach has collected information about you for the primary purpose of providing community and welfare services. This form sets out how we would like to use your information. We will use the information we hold about you as set out below unless you tell us not to by specifying those items at the end of this form.

  1. To assist other service providers who may be involved in your care in relation to the particular reason you have been in contact with Sisters of Charity Outreach. This may include a requirement to forward relevant prior information.
  2. To inform next of kin identified by you of aspects of your care or to obtain consent for changes to care when you are not able to provide such consent.
  3. To assist in the development of service delivery and planning in facilities owned and operated by Sisters of Charity Outreach.
  4. For research and development projects undertaken by Sisters of Charity Outreach in its own right or in conjunction with other groups identified by the Sisters of Charity.
  5. To assist the Sisters of Charity in providing practical training and education to students (eg welfare, social work)
  6. To assist the Sisters of Charity Outreach in undertaking quality improvement activities.
  7. To receive educational materials related to your contact with the Sisters of Charity Outreach program
  8. To communicate promotional offers and special events to you.
  9. To contact you and invite you to make a contribution to or assist in fundraising activities.
  10. To communicate marketing initiatives to you.