Natural Hearing Pty. Ltd. (ABN 81 158 215 804) recognises the importance of protecting your privacy. This document describes our policy (Privacy Policy) regarding handling of your personal information, including health information.
We respect your rights to privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and are required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles in respect of the collection, use, disclosure and handling of personal information.
In this Privacy Policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Act. In general terms, it is any information that can be used to identify you, including your name, address, telephone number, email address and/ or personal information. It may also include information relating to your health, any disability, and health services provided to you. “Health information” is a type of sensitive personal information that relates to your health.
1. How we collect personal information:
We only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for our functions and activities as a reliable Australian hearing services provider. Below is an example of how we may collect your personal information to provide you with our hearing services:
- Through a registration form;
- During a consultation;
- Through a telephone conversation;
- Through our iPad screening;
- Information you include in a letter or email;
- To process the purchase by you of products or services;
- To provide you with further information about our services, at your request;
- To book an appointment, at your request;
We may also collect information about you from persons or sources other than yourself, as described below.
However, where such information is in connection with the provision of our health services to you, we will only do this with your consent, or, in the case of emergency involving a serious threat to your health and during which you are unable to provide consent, where it is necessary in order to treat you.
Other sources from which we may collect information about you include you treating specialists, your general practitioner, family members, friends, carers, employers and hospitals in which you have been treated.
You are not obliged to provide us with any of your personal details, however without this information, we may not be able to provide you with services or products that you have requested.
2. What information do we collect?
- Name and date of birth;
- Mailing and/or street address;
- Contact numbers and e-mail address;
- Information concerning your health and disabilities, including Medicare and pension card numbers;
- Your treatment history;
- Your medical history;
- Services and products provided to you;
- Requests made by you;
- Transaction details associated with a purchase of goods or services from us;
- Credit card and account details (including card verification check) when processing transactions; and
- Any additional information provided by you to us.
3. Purposes of collecting, holding, use and disclosure of personal information:
We may collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for purposes including the following:
- 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 or 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;
- Any purpose made known to you at the times of collection of your personal information;
- We will not send you direct marketing communications, without your consent. At any time, you may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us (see details below) and we will ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.
4. International disclosure of personal information:
We disclose personal information to the relevant product provider and their representatives, our agents and contractors and related companies. These hearing aid providers and their companies may be located overseas. We generally limit, however, such use and disclosure of any personal information to the specific purpose for which it was supplied.
We may disclose personal information to third parties who we believe are necessary to assist us in providing the relevant services and products to our clients or to enable them to offer their products and services to you.
However, by providing personal information to us, you acknowledge that we may not always be able to guarantee that overseas parties are subject to requirements similar to those contained in the Privacy Act and consent to the disclosure on this basis.
5. Disclosure of information:
We may disclose your information in circumstances including the following:
- To Medicare and other public agencies that may require evidence of your treatment, private health insurers, pharmacies and government bodies;
- To our related companies, contractors of service providers and professional advisers for the purposes of operation of our business, including fulfilling orders by you, hosting our website or information systems, delivering products, and otherwise providing services and products to you;
- To third parties to provide you with care or treatment. Other sources to which we may disclose information about you include treating specialists, family members, and carers;
- As required or authorized under law or in co-operation with any government authority, or as otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act 1988 and applicable States and Territory health legislation;
- Where information is disclosed to third parties, we take all reasonable measures to ensure that such third parties do not use the information for any purpose other than that for which it was provided or disclose the information to any other party.
6. Security of your personal information:
We will take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. We may hold your information in either electronic or hard copy form. Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed or required to be kept by law.
7. Access and Correction:
You may request access to any personal information we hold about you at any time by contacting us (see details below). Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will endeavor to provide you with suitable means of accessing it (e.g. by emailing or mailing it to you or inspecting the record).
If you are not entitled to access information, we will provide you with reasons why. If you believe that any 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.
We take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information we collect, hold, use and disclose is accurate, complete, up-to-date and relevant.
If you have any questions or feedback about privacy, or if you believe that your privacy has been breached, please use the contact details below to get in touch.
8. Contact Us:
Call us on 1300 039 203 or write to us at:
Natural Hearing
2 Tweed Street,
Vermont VIC 3133
Or email us at: info@naturalhearing.com.au
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. All changes to this Policy will be posted in an updated version of the Policy on our website. Our Privacy Policy was last updated in November 2019.
To download a copy of our Privacy Policy, click here.