PRIVACY POLICY

Purpose

To articulate clearly the compliance policies of Careline Connections to the Federal Government Privacy ACT 1988, (as amended) and the National Privacy Principles.

General Guidelines

All client information will be handled in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 (as amended) and the National Privacy Principles. Personal information shall be collected from callers for the following four purposes:

To enable appropriate follow-up of callers when needed to provide pastoral care or referrals
To collect statistics for Call Reports
To pass on information to the Prayer Team when prayer is requested
To provide information to other volunteers staffing telephones or Careline management for appropriately managing and responding to regular callers in the future

Collection of Information

Careline will only ask for and collect information that is necessary to the provision or quality improvement of the telephone service.

To provide the best possible service to the callers/clients, within professional and industry standards
To collect statistics for Call Reports and service utilisation
For reasons related to the life and safety of the caller/client or a third party
To protect the safety and well-being of Careline volunteer members
To inform Careline supervision, assessment and training
To support efficient and effective management of our service
To support strategic planning and service development
If a caller gives verbal permission, we may use data collected to provide to media partners for subsequent broadcast, with identifying names and features removed.

Disclosure of Information

Careline will only disclose personal information third parties if:

The caller/client gives consent (whether express or implied);
A caller is at imminent risk of injury or death by suicide;
A caller makes specific threats to harm third parties;
A caller is at imminent risk of injury or death by another person;
There are reasonable grounds for believing that child abuse is occurring and/or where an intervention may be required to ensure a child’s safety.
There is a legal requirement to provide information (such as a subpoena);
For the purposes of consultation, supervision, or debriefing by volunteers with other staff within Careline;
For research purposes provided legal conditions are met;
Careline may disclose health information to a ‘person responsible’ for an individual (including a partner, family member, care, guardian or close friend) under certain circumstances if that individual is incapable of giving or communicating consent.

Careline will not charge for a request for personal information held on that person and will omit from future records any information that is established as being incorrect or will correct such information. If the correctness of information is contested then a note to this effect will be appended to the information. Careline will inform the individual concerned of all changes to the information record maintained on that individual.

All requests for disclosure of personal information will be referred to the Careline Co-ordinator to comply with.

Non-Disclosure of Information

Careline will not disclose information where:

Such disclosure poses a threat to the life or health of the individual;

It would have an impact upon the privacy of other individuals;
Relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings or to the current negotiations between the individual and Careline;
It would impede or prejudice any investigation of unlawful activity or is likely to cause damage to the security of Australia;
For direct marketing without the consent of the individual.

Accuracy of Information

Careline will at all times use its best endeavours to ensure that the personal information it collects, uses and discloses is accurate, complete and up to date.

Protection of Information

Careline ensures that all personal information and records are protected from unauthorised disclosure or loss by permitting access to either electronic or hard copy information only to authorised personnel. All information will be maintained in a secure environment. Electronic and hard copies maintained about personal information will be kept separate to the main register.

Careline maintains a firewall on its local area computer network to ensure unauthorised external access does not occur.

Serious breaches of this policy may constitute grounds for instant dismissal.

The Privacy of Information Policy is available upon request and is also available on Careline’s web page at www.carelineconnections.org.au