Privacy policy

Our commitment to you

Bethanie Group Inc and Bethanie Housing Limited (collectively referred to as ‘Bethanie’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’) understands how important it is to protect your personal information. This document sets out our privacy policy commitment in respect of personal information we hold about you and what we do with that information.

We recognise that any personal information we collect about you will only be used for the purposes we have collected it or as allowed under the law. It is important to us that you are confident that any personal information we hold about you will be treated in a way which ensures protection of your personal information.

Bethanie is committed to protecting the privacy of all personal information collected by complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act, to meet its obligations including the Aged Care Quality Standards and the NDIS Practice Standards.

Personal Information

When we refer to personal information we mean information from which your identity is reasonably apparent. This information may include information or an opinion about you. The personal information we hold about you may also include sensitive information.

When we refer to sensitive information we are referring to personal information or an opinion about an individual’s health, ethnic or racial origin, political opinions, membership of political associations, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, professional or trade association membership, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record or biometric information that is to be used for certain purposes. We will only collect sensitive information with your consent.

What information do we collect and store?

Bethanie only collects personal information by fair and lawful means and only if the information is necessary to provide products and services to you. Where information requested is not provided, this may affect the provision of products and services by Bethanie.

Bethanie may collect and hold a range of customer personal information, which includes, but not limited to:

Name, address, date of birth, contact details, gender, marital status, occupation
Government identifiers (such as tax file number, NDIS reference number or Medicare number)
Details of identification documents (such a driver’s license)
Details of next of kin or other nominated representatives
Health information

Why we collect your personal information

We collect personal information for the purposes of:

Providing quality health, NDIS or aged care services.
Administering and managing those services.
Conducting research and developing its services.
Assisting treating doctors, pharmacists, nursing staff, other health professionals or carers in providing health, NDIS or aged care services at its facilities.
Internal administrative requirements, including information required by insurers and legal representatives.
Quality reviews, including NDIS audits, clinical audits, service-monitoring, planning, evaluation, and accreditation activities.
Providing housing
Managing relationships with individuals; or
Complying with regulatory obligations

We may also collect your personal information for the purposes of direct marketing and managing our relationship with you. From time to time we may offer you other products and services.

How do we collect your personal information?

Where reasonable and practical, we will collect your personal information directly from you prior or at the time of providing our services, and as an ongoing process. We may also collect your personal information from other sources provided you have consented to this, or we are required and authorised by law to collect the information. This can include information from health care professionals, pharmacists, government departments and agencies, your family, your representative, or third parties who provide services to you.

How do we use and disclose your personal information?

For the purposes of providing quality care services to you, there will be times when we will need to store, use, or disclose your personal information.

If during Bethanie’s relationship with you, your personal information is used for an additional purpose, Bethanie will obtain your consent unless the additional purpose is related to the primary purpose or Bethanie are permitted under law to do so.

Bethanie may disclose your personal information to:

Third parties where you have given your consent (express or implied), including organisations for research purposes,
Government agencies or similar entities as required or permitted by law,
Professional advisors, contractors or other service providers used by Bethanie to carry out, advise or assist with the carrying out of Bethanie’s business activities.

Anonymity and Pseudonymity

Generally, Bethanie is not able to deal with customers who do not wish to identify themselves. However, where possible and appropriate, we will provide information of a general nature to unidentified individuals.

Consent from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Persons

Where specific consent is required (e.g. for the collection of sensitive information), Bethanie will work with you to ensure that you fully understand what is being consented to. If required, a Translator and Interpreter Service will be utilised.

Social Media

Bethanie’s social media pages (such as Facebook and YouTube), are hosted on an external site in which Bethanie has no affiliation with. When accessing or using these external sites, you will be subject to the privacy policies and practices of that external site and any questions or concerns regarding that site’s privacy policies and practices should be referred to the privacy policy of the relevant external site. Bethanie does not endorse, and is not accountable for, any views expressed by third parties using that site.

Bethanie records all information posted to its social media pages and uses that information for the purposes of administering the pages, for record keeping, for considering and / or addressing any comments made and for running competitions and campaigns. No attempt will be made to further identify social media subscribers except where requested and authorised by law.

Direct Marketing

From time to time we may use your personal information to provide you with current information about our services, offers you may find of interest, changes to our organisation, or new services being offered by us or any company with whom we are associated.

If you do not wish to receive marketing information, you may at any time decline to receive such information by telephoning us on 131 151, or by writing to us here or at PO Box 143, Northbridge WA 6865. If the direct marketing is by email you may also use the unsubscribe function. We will not charge you for giving effect to your request and will take all reasonable steps to meet your request at the earliest possible opportunity.

Bethanie does not sell your personal information, nor do we use sensitive information for the purposes of direct marketing.

Updating your Personal Information

It is important to us that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. Occasionally, we may ask you to inform us if any of your personal information has changed. While we take care to ensure that your personal information that we collect use and disclose is correct and up to date, we may ask you to:

let us know if you know of any errors in your personal information; and
keep us informed of any changes to your personal information.

If you wish to make any changes to your personal information, you may contact us. We will generally rely on you to ensure the information we hold about you is accurate or complete.

Access to Personal Information

We will provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you. You may request access to any of the personal information we hold about you at any time.

Bethanie will verify your identity prior to disclosing any personal information. When you request access to your personal information Bethanie will conduct a search of its customer relationship database. This search will also indicate if there are any paper records that contain personal information.

Bethanie will not give access to the personal information that it holds about you where it is unreasonable or impracticable to provide access, or in circumstances where the request would likely:

Pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or public safety.
Unreasonably access the privacy of other individuals.
Be frivolous or vexatious.
Relate to anticipated legal proceedings, and the correct method of access to personal information is by the process of discovery in those legal proceedings.
Reveal the intentions of the entity in relation to negotiations with the individual in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations.
Be unlawful or in breach of an Australian law.
Prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to a matter where unlawful activity or misconduct that relates to our functions or activities.
Prejudice an enforcement related activity of an enforcement body (such as the Department of Health or the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency); or
Reveal commercially sensitive information.

Where you request access to your personal information, a response will usually be provided within 7 days. Depending on the nature of the request, Bethanie may be able to provide the personal information at the same time as when the request is made. Where the request cannot be dealt with immediately, or there is a large amount of personal information requested, Bethanie will investigate the request and then advise you of the personal information held.

Bethanie will comply with all reasonable requests to provide you with details of your personal information. A fee may be charged for providing access to personal information.

Correction of Personal Information

We rely on you to help ensure personal information held about you is accurate, up-to-date and complete. You are asked to promptly advise Bethanie if any details you have provided has changed or is incorrect.

If we have corrected or updated information that was previously disclosed to a third party, reasonable steps will be taken to notify the third party of the updated information.

If we refuse to correct personal information we will provide you with our reasons for not correcting the information.

Cross-border Disclosure of Personal Information

If Bethanie needs to disclose personal information to an overseas recipient, reasonable steps will be undertaken to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles, unless express consent to the disclosure has been provided by you, or the disclosure is necessary or authorised by Australian Law.

Bethanie may use cloud storage and IT servers that may be located overseas to store the personal information it holds. Where Bethanie chooses to store personal information outside of Australia, Bethanie will take all steps that are reasonable to ensure your personal information is safe.

Using Government Related Identities

If we collect government identifiers, such as your tax file number, NDIS reference number or Medicare number, we do not use or disclose this information other than authorised by law. Bethanie will never use a government identifier in order to identify you.

Unsolicited Personal Information

If Bethanie receives unsolicited personal information that was not collected by lawful and fair means, or the personal information does not relate to one of Bethanie’s purposes for collecting the information, the personal information will be destroyed or de-identified.

How safe and secure is your private information that we hold?

We understand that the safety of your personal information is important. Bethanie takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information by storing it in a secure environment in accordance with Bethanie’s Document and Records Management and Archival Policies.

We may store your personal information in paper and electronic form. We will also take reasonable steps to protect any personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Audits

Bethanie’s customers have the option of participating in external audits conducted by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and/or the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission if they wish.

Data Breaches

A data breach occurs when personal information is accessed or disclosed without authorisation, or is lost.

Under the Privacy Act, Bethanie must notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), and affected individuals when a data breach is likely to result in serious harm to an individual whose personal information is involved (considered an ‘eligible data breach’).

Where Bethanie has reasonable grounds to believe an eligible data breach has occurred, reasonable steps will be taken and as required under the Notifiable Data Breach scheme, including:

investigating the suspected breach and determining the scope of any breach that has occurred and the risk of harm to affected individuals whose information may have been compromised,
notifying the individual involved and the OAIC of the potential breach, and
steps undertaken to minimise any harm caused to affected individuals as a result of the breach.

Complaints and service user feedback

Bethanie is committed to providing the highest quality of service and customer experience and recognises the importance of managing complaints and other sources of feedback. Bethanie ensures that quality standards are maintained and your rights are protected, and all issues are addressed promptly and in the most diligent and appropriate manner in line with all legislative, regulatory and relevant Industry standards.

All privacy complaints are handled in accordance with Bethanie’s Customer Feedback Management Policy.

Complaints to Bethanie about privacy or privacy breaches can be made formally or informally and accepted verbally or in writing and anonymously. Verbal complaints may be made in person or by phone. Written complaints may be submitted by completion of a Bethanie Feedback form, email, mail, fax and via Bethanie’s Feedback Portal on its website.

For privacy complaints contact Bethanie at:

Phone: 131 151
Postal Address: Complaints Officer, PO Box 143, Northbridge, WA, 6865.

If you are not satisfied with Bethanie’s privacy complaint handling process or outcome, a complaint can be lodged with the OAIC, whose details are:

Website: www.oaic.gov,au
Postal address: GPO Box 5218, Sydney, NSW, 2001
Phone: 1300 363 992
Fax: +61 2 9284 9666

Change in our Privacy Policy

We are constantly reviewing all of our policies and attempt to keep up to date with market expectations. Our Privacy Policy is subject to change and you may request this Privacy Policy in an alternative form.

Last updated: November 2023