Privacy Policy

Sunrise Speech Pathology is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information collected from our clients. Most private sector organisations in Australia must, by law, comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Sunrise Speech pathology complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), Australian Privacy Principles (“APPs”) and Speech Pathology Australia’s Code of Ethics (2010). 

This Privacy policy details how Sunrise Speech Pathology manages, uses and disclose the personal information we collect. 

What is “personal information”?

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) currently defines “personal information” as meaning information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable: 

(i) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

(ii) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. 

If the information does not disclose your identity or enable your identity to be ascertained, it will in most cases not be classified as “personal information” and will not be subject to this privacy policy. 

Collection and usage of information 

We may collect personal information from you whenever you input such information into the website, our forms, emails or speak with one of our representatives that help us provide services to you. At times, we may need to collect information about you from a third party (such as a relative, relevant health services provider and primary caregiver(s)). 

The information we collect about you is what you tell us about yourself when you fill in a form, send us an email or speak with one of our representatives that help us provide services to you. This information may include your/ the client’s name, date of birth, email, mailing addresses, contact numbers, health fund details and information about your family and health history. We require this information to assist us in therapy planning, diagnosing and making informed decisions to provide quality and appropriate services. 

If you withhold personal or health information from us or provide incomplete or inaccurate information, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require. We collect and use information necessary for making decisions relevant to the services that you require from us. We will use your personal information for the purpose of providing speech pathology services to you, to manage our relationship with you and to contact you in relation to matters concerning your care. We also use your information for reasonably related secondary purposes, any other purposes you have consented to and any other purpose permitted under the Privacy Act 1988. 

We may record your email address if you send us an email and use this information to tell you about services of Sunrise Speech Pathology. By using our website, you consent to the receipt of direct marketing material. We will only use your personal information for this purpose if we have collected such information directly from you, and if it is material of a type which you would reasonably expect to receive from us. We do not use sensitive personal information in direct marketing activity. Our direct marketing material will include simple means by which you can request not to receive further communications of this nature. We will not sell any personally identifiable information that you give us to any third party. 

Disclosure of information 

We may disclose your information to parties relevant to your/ your child/ the client’s care. These parties may include: 

(a) Other health professions involved in the treatment of you/ your child/ the client. In the case where your care may be provided by different health professions / providers such as but not limited to, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Physiotherapists, and/ other allied health disciplines involved in your/ the client’s care, we may disclose your personal and / or health information to these parties for the purpose of managing your / the client’s care together to ensure quality outcomes 

(b) Medical Practitioner / the referrer. In the case where Sunrise Speech Pathology needs to communicate with your medical practitioner(s) including paediatricians and / or general practitioner, such as sending discharge reports, follow-up notes and letters, we will need to disclose your therapy progress and relevant information to you medical practitioner. If you do not wish for us to disclose any information to the medical practitioner or the referrer, you must inform us. 

(c) Family members, legal guardian(s), legal representative(s). We may provide your information to your family members, guardians and legal representatives for the care and quality of our services. If you do not wish for us to disclose any information, you must inform us. 

In order to provide quality level of care and the best therapy outcomes, we may need to use and / or disclose your information that is necessary for the following: 

• For complaints handling or data analytics purposes;
• Activities for quality assurance, accreditation, audits, risk and claims management, patient satisfaction questionnaires, staff education and training;
• Invoicing, billing and account management;
• To liaise with your health fund, Medicare or the Department of Veteran’s Affairs to verify treatment provided to you;
• The purpose of sending you standard appointment reminders via text messages or email which you have provided to us. 

Ensuring the accuracy and security of your personal information

We take all reasonable steps to secure any personal information which we hold about you and to keep this information accurate and up-to-date. Personal information is stored either electronically or in hard copies, appropriate information security measures are in place to protect this information. We will take reasonable measures to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We use technologies and processes such as access control procedures, passwords, encryption, network firewalls and physical security to protect your privacy. 

Sunrise Speech Pathology will destroy or permanently de-identify any of your information which is in its possession or control that are no longer required for the purpose it was collected and provided for, given that Sunrise Speech Pathology is not required under an Australian law or court/ tribunal or otherwise to retain the information. 

Website 

We may collect your personal information if you choose to provide this to us via filling in an online form when visiting our website. We do not seek to identify you as an individual user nor your information unless you provide this to us. 

When you visit our website, our Internet Service Provider (ISP) may record and log for statistical purposes information about your visit such as your computer address, your top level name (e.g. .com, .gov, .org, .au, etc), the date and time of your visit to our website, the pages and documents you access during your visit, and the browser that you are using. 

Our website management / provider / agent may use the statistical data collected by our ISP to evaluate the effectiveness of our website. 

Cookies Policy

We collect cookies from your computer which enable us to tell when you use the website and also to hep automise your website experience. As a general rule, however, it is not possible to identify you personally from our use of cookies, but they do identify your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and your Browder type. 

This website does not retain any personal information and all temporary cookies will be destroyed upon closing your browser. Personal information such as your email and contact number will not be collected unless you provide such information to us. We do not disclose domain names or your information to third parties apart from the agent who assists us with the creation and maintenance of this website. You may be able to configure your browser to accept or reject Cookies and to notify you when a Cookie is in use. Please refer to browser instructions to learn more about these functions. 

Third party websites

We may create links to three party website, however, we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices employed by the websites that are linked from our website. Third party websites may collect data about you, use Cookies, embed additional third party tracking, and / or monitor your interaction with these third party websites and / or embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. User discretion of third party websites is highly recommended. 

What to do if you have a complaint or question 

You have a right to access the personal information that we hold about you in certain circumstances, according to Australian Privacy Principle 12. You can also request an amendment to your personal and health information should you believe that it is inaccurate. You can also contact us if you have any questions or a complaint about our information handling practices and procedures. You can contact the Privacy Officer directly, by email to admin@sunrisespeech.com.au

The Privacy Officer is responsible for co-ordinating the investigation of any complaints and resolving the matter with a complainant. We will review your complaint accordingly and give you a response promptly. If we agree that your complaint is well founded, we will, in consultation with you, take appropriate steps to rectify the problem. If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you may refer to the matter to the Office of he Australian Information Commissioner. 

If you have any other questions, please contact us via email to admin@sunrisespeech.com.au