Privacy and Dignity
1.3
January 2020
1.3 Privacy and Dignity Contents Preamble ............................................................................................................................. 3 1.3.1 Privacy .................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 Confidentiality .......................................................................................................... 3 1.3.3 Personal Information ............................................................................................... 4 Procedures .......................................................................................................................... 5 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 6 Supporting Documents ........................................................................................................ 7 Policies ............................................................................................................................. 7 Forms ............................................................................................................................... 7 Information Sheets ........................................................................................................... 7 Training ............................................................................................................................ 7 Legislation ........................................................................................................................ 7 Responsible Officers ............................................................................................................ 7 NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators ................................................................. 8 1.3 Privacy and Dignity..................................................................................................... 8 Version Details..................................................................................................................... 9
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Preamble BigDog Support Services Pty Ltd (BigDog) is committed to protecting and upholding the right to privacy of people with a disability, those who support them, employees, volunteers and representatives of other agencies. BigDog requires employees and volunteers to be consistent and careful in the way they manage what is written and said about individuals and how they decide who can see or hear this information. Such rights will also apply when there are guests or visitors to a supported house or group centre. This includes areas such as personal care, visitors, correspondence, phone calls, relationships, health and medical issues, money and finances, personal possessions, environment and activities.
1.3.1 Privacy BigDog is often empowered to retain information for participants, staff and organisations. The retention of this information must be for valid reasons and therefore the reasons must be able to be clearly demonstrated in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwth). Privacy breaches The Director, participant, employee, volunteer or contractor can utilise the grievance procedures to complain if they believe that their privacy has been breached. This is a serious matter and will be investigated by the Director. Possible outcomes of the investigation could include employee performance management or changes to processes to ensure the safety of all information. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at http://privacy.gov.au/
1.3.2 Confidentiality BigDog requires employees, volunteers and contractors to respect and maintain the confidentiality of individuals and BigDog business generally. Employees may from time to time have access to information that is confidential to BigDog, other agencies that have dealings with BigDog, or to other employees and volunteers. Employees will: retain all confidential information in the strictest confidence and not disclose any confidential information to any person other than for purposes directly related to their position at BigDog not use any confidential information which they have acquired in relation to the activities of BigDog for their own interests or the interests or purposes of others not associated with BigDog not make copies of any confidential information for any other reason other than those essential to and directly related to their position and responsibilities with BigDog
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upon the request, and in any event upon the cessation of their engagement or employment with BigDog return or destroy materials containing confidential information which are in their possession. This will not prevent an individual from: disclosing information to proper authorities in relation to concerns about improper conduct, breaches of laws or breaches of duty of care providing access for external reviewers to non-identified information for the purposes of formal audit processes making a formal complaint to appropriate authorities about an aspect of BigDog operation disclosing any information that they may be required to disclose by any court or regulatory body or under applicable law
1.3.3 Personal Information Collection The collection of information shall be with the expressed permission of the individual or guardian. Information shall only be in relation to the needs of the organisation with respect to the program or services being provided to the individual. No information is to be retained that does not serve a specific purpose. Information must only be gleaned through lawful means minimising intrusiveness. No speculative or prejudicial information is to be retained without valid reasons. Use of information The collected information is only to be used for the designated program or service requirements. For any information that is able to be used for a secondary purpose, permission must be gained from the concerned individual or guardian prior to the information being accessed. Disclosure No information is to be disclosed to any third party without the expressed permission of the individual concerned or their guardian. This permission should be gained in writing for each disclosure, stating the reasons for disclosure. Any requests for information by a third party must be in writing and state the reasons for the requested information. The written request for information must be provided to the individual or their guardian prior to any disclosure. Disclosure may be made where the organisation believes there is a very real threat to the health, safety or life of the individual and where it is impractical to gain permission. This must be in accordance with section 2 of the Act. Access BigDog will allow access to any retained information of an individual at any convenient time for the individual or guardian. As information may be retained in a variety of mediums BigDog will reserve the right to time frame access, the maximum period for the time frames is 7 days. All statutory bodies will supply BigDog with appropriate documentation prior to access to information being granted. 1.3 Privacy and Dignity
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BigDog will supply on request, information of a non-detrimental nature to the Participant group, to statutory authorities and organisations by way of surveys, audits and in-line with funding requirements. Staff are to verify with management that the type of information to be disclosed is not breaching an individual’s privacy, and therefore should only contain information in relation to Participant groups. Participants have the right to access and amend personal information held by the organisation under the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld). Participants also have the right to access and apply to amend personal information held by the Queensland Government through the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld). Correction BigDog undertakes to take reasonable steps to make sure that information it collects, uses or discloses is accurate, complete and up to date. Any information that is not accurate is to be corrected as soon as practicable and incorrect information destroyed. Disposal All information is to be destroyed by means that make the information irretrievable to a third party. Individuals have the right to ask for information prior to disposal, provided that the information does not contain organisational material or invades the privacy of any third party. Security All information is always to be kept as secure as possible. Sensitive information should be retained in locked facilities and only be available to those who require its usage. BigDog management is to implement appropriate procedures within facilities for the retention of sensitive information.
Procedures BigDog will ensure that: we meet our legal and ethical obligations as an employer and service provider in relation to protecting the privacy of participants, those who support them and company employees participants are provided with information about their rights regarding privacy participants and company employees are provided with privacy when they are being interviewed or discussing matters of a personal or sensitive nature all employees and volunteers understand what is required in meeting these obligations In dealing with personal information, BigDog employees will: ensure privacy for participants and those who support them, employees or volunteers when they are being interviewed or discussing matters of a personal or sensitive nature only collect and store personal information that is necessary for the functioning of BigDog and its activities use fair and lawful ways to collect personal information collect personal information only by consent of the individual ensure that people know what sort of personal information is held, what purpose it is held for and how it is collected, used, disclosed and who will have access to it 1.3 Privacy and Dignity
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ensure that personal information collected or disclosed is accurate, complete and up-todate, and provide access to any individual to review information or correct wrong information about themselves take reasonable steps to protect all personal information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure destroy or permanently de-identify personal information no longer needed and/or after legal requirements for retaining documents have expired To ensure privacy when discussing sensitive or personal matters, employees will arrange for a private location to hold discussions including phone calls.
Summary BigDog is to be vigilant in gaining information, the retention of information and disclosure of information. BigDog has the responsibility to record a wide range of information in relation to service delivery and for the benefit of individuals supported. Protection of individual privacy must be at the forefront of employee's thoughts when collecting information. Simple questions to be asked: Why do we need this information? Is there a specific reason that I can show? Have I the permission of the individual to collect, retain and disclose this information? Satisfying these 3 questions will normally satisfy the requirements of the Privacy Act The Director is responsible for safeguarding personal information relating to BigDog employees, volunteers, contractors and other stakeholders. All employees are responsible for the management of personal information to which they have access, and in the conduct of research, consultation or advocacy work. The Director is responsible for content in BigDog publications, communications and website and must ensure the following: appropriate consent is obtained for the inclusion of any personal information about any individual including BigDog employees information being provided by other agencies or external individuals conforms to privacy principles that the website contains a Privacy Statement that makes clear the conditions of any collection of personal information from the public through their visit to the website
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Supporting Documents Policies 1.0 Rights and Responsibilities 2.0 Governance and Management 2.4 Information Management 2.5.2 Participant Grievance
Forms Participant Consent Form Employee Confirmation Agreement Employee Induction Checklist
Information Sheets Code of Practice Don’t leave privacy to chance Protecting your privacy Webpage Privacy Statement
Training CHCCS301A
Work within a legal and ethical framework
Legislation Information Privacy Act 2009 (QLD) Invasion of Privacy Act 971 (Cwth) National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cwth) Privacy Act 1988 (Cwth) Right to Information Act 2009 (QLD)
Responsible Officers Steven Paull ............ Director Courtney Carroll ....... Operations Manager
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NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators BigDog Support Services Pty Ltd (BigDog) is a registered NDIS provider and is required to apply the scheme’s practice standard and quality indicators. The standards have been developed to create an important benchmark to assess provider performance and ensure that high quality and safe supports and services are provided to NDIS participants. The four core modules are: 1.0 Rights and Responsibilities; 2.0 Governance and Operational Management; 3.0 The Provision of Supports; and 4.0 The Support Provision Environment.
1.3 Privacy and Dignity Each participant accesses supports that respect and protect their dignity and right to privacy. Consistent processes and practices are in place that respect and protect the personal privacy and dignity of each participant. Each participant is advised of confidentiality policies using the language, mode of communication and terms that the participant is most likely to understand. Each participant understands and agrees to what personal information will be collected and why, including recorded material in audio and/or visual format
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Version Details Date
V
Details
July 2009
1.0 Privacy Policy
March 2011
1.1 Contents reviewed and updated Updated BigDog from BDS Updated BigDog from Service Provider
March 2012
1.2 Header includes new logo and page of pages
October 2013
2.0 HSQS Indicators replace Service Standard Indicators Training sub-heading added to Supporting Documents Word converted to Office 2013 DOCX
February 2015
2.1 Updated term ‘Client’ to NDIS term ‘Participant’
June 2015
2.2 Included images of forms and information sheets
August 2016
2.3 New Office of Privacy Commissioner information sheets Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) and the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) Added disposal process information
February 2017
3.0 Created an all-inclusive HSQF Policy to address each of the service standards indicators.
January 2019
4.0 Updated to new logo and style guide
January 2020
5.0 Removed HSQF Standards Indicators and Policy matched with NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators Front cover updated to Practice Standards colour identification Supporting Policies updated
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