Helping Hand cares about your online experience, your information security and privacy.

This privacy statement is a summary of the way which Helping Hand handles personal information about individuals.

Helping Hand Aged Care is an organisation that is bound by the National Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1998.

We collect personal information directly from individuals where possible. However, in some circumstances we may collect personal information from organisations that refer individuals to us, from health service providers, or from relatives of the individual. We do this where it is necessary for us to have the information to provide health services to the individual.

The kind of personal information which Helping Hand holds is:

  • individual’s names and addresses and other contact details;
  • contact details for an individual’s health care professionals and their relatives, guardians and attorneys;
  • health information and other necessary personal information required to provide services to clients

The main purpose for which Helping Hand collects this information is to enable us to provide services to our clients. We also use the information for internal business purposes, including quality assurance and market research.

Helping Hand may also use the information to provide you with information about our services and activities (for example, newsletters). You may inform us if you do not wish to receive this type of information.

Where we take photographs we will seek consent for use in publications.

When calling Helping Hand, your call may be monitored or recorded for training and quality purposes. Callers can opt out by advising the staff member that they do not wish for their call to be recorded. Helping Hand staff will arrange to call you back on an alternate line. As part of our quality program, Helping Hand securely store recorded calls for a period of time to access for training and quality activities.

Helping Hand will only disclose personal information outside Helping Hand in the following circumstances:

  • To other health service providers as part of the provision of health services;
  • To relatives, guardians or attorneys, unless you request us not to disclose information to them;
  • To contractors or agents who we engage as part of our provision of services to you, or to organisations that provide services to us, such as legal advisers;
  • To government agencies that provide funding to us;
  • To other aged care service providers that provide related services to our clients;
  • To student and volunteers who work with us to provide services to you.

Under the National Privacy Principles, you have a right to have access to personal information held about you, and to correct or update the information if you can establish that it is incorrect. Only written requests for access will be accepted. In general, we will respond to your request for access within 14 days.

We may require you to provide proof of identity before we release information to you. We may provide access under supervision in some circumstances.

Relatives, guardians or attorneys may, in some circumstances, request access to information about an individual for whom they are responsible. We may require proof of their authority to make this kind of request.

A copy of our Privacy and Confidentiality information brochure can be downloaded from the Brochures and Fact Sheets page of this website.

Online privacy

We operate this website under the domain name www.helpinghand.org.au. This website is hosted in Australia, and is intended as a source of information about us. There are a number of ways in which we collect information through our website.

Web analytics

We use Google Analytics to collect data about your interaction with our website. You can access the privacy policy for Google on its website. The reason we collect this data is to improve your experience when you visit our website. The types of data we collect with these tools include:

  • Your device’s IP address (collected and stored in anonymised format)
  • Device screen size
  • Device type, operating system and browser information
  • Geographic location (city)Referring domain and outlink if applicable
  • Search terms and pages visited on our website
  • Date and time when pages were accessed on our website

Cookies

Cookies are small data files transferred onto computers or devices by websites for record-keeping purposes and to enhance functionality on the website. Most browsers allow you to choose whether to accept cookies or not. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computer, please set your browser preferences to reject all cookies before accessing our website.

Embedded videos on our website

When you play an embedded video from our website, the video will load from the domain www.vimeo.com. Vimeo collects data about your interaction with videos. The types of data that is collected include:

  • Your device’s IP address (collected and stored in anonymised format)
  • Device screen size
  • Device type, operating system and browser information
  • Geographic location (city)
  • Referring domain and outlink if applicable
  • Date and time the video was played on our website

You can access the privacy policy for Vimeo on its website.

Email lists

We will collect information that you provide to us when signing up to mailing lists on our website. We use MailChimp to manage our mailing lists. You can access the privacy policy for MailChimp on its website. When subscribing to one of our mailing lists, MailChimp will store the information you provide (email address and name) so that we can email you newsletters and information. Your email address will not be added to any mailing lists without your permission.

Online forms

We use online forms on our website to enable you to give feedback, lodge an application, make a donation or apply for a job. When you submit a form it is stored on a secure server located in Australia. Any information submitted on a form is stored in accordance with the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988. Helping Hand will not disclose your email address or any other personal details provided by you without consent by way of a specific request in writing.

Social networking services

We use social networking services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Vimeo to communicate with the public about our organisation. When you communicate with us using these services we may collect your personal information, but we only use it to help us to communicate with you and the public. The social networking service will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for Facebook, LinkedIn and Vimeo on their websites.

Third Parties

Our web site contains links to websites operated by other parties (“third parties”). Helping Hand is not responsible for the collection of personal information during use of these third party websites. You should read the privacy statements on those websites. We do not collect personal information from these third parties.

Ad Servers

We use Ad Servers when we advertise our organisation online, and collect data about your interaction with our advertising. The reason we collect this data is to improve your experience when you interact with us, and to help us understand the types of services that people are interested in. The types of data we collect with these tools include:

  • Your device’s IP address (collected and stored in anonymised format)
  • Device screen size
  • Device type, operating system and browser information
  • Geographic location (city)
  • Referring domain and outlink if applicable
  • Date and time when ads were accessed

This policy is subject to change. We encourage you to check our on-line policies regularly. If you have any concerns or queries about our privacy policy, or if you would like further information about the way Helping Hand handles personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer, Julie Goods on (08) 8366 5400 or by email.

To find out more visit the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website

Advocacy Services

An advocate is a person who assists you exercise your rights by representing you and your wishes. An advocate can be used when making decisions or arrangements for care and services. Deciding to use an advocate is a personal choice; it is not a necessary requirement. An advocate is someone you choose, and can be a member of your family, a friend, someone you feel comfortable with or someone who is trained as an advocate.

The Aged Rights Advocacy Service is an independent, free and confidential service that provides information, representation, advice and support. To contact an advocacy service near you please call the Aged Rights Advocacy Service on 08 8232 5377 or free call for country callers: 1800 700 600.