Local Guardians commitment to privacy
Self-Managed Support trading as Local Guardians ABN 91 158 357 674 (referred to as Local Guardians) is committed to managing personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and in accordance with other applicable privacy laws.
This document sets out our policies for managing your personal information and is referred to as our Privacy Policy.
In this Privacy Policy, “we” and “us” refer to Local Guardians, and “you” refers to any individual about whom we collect personal information.
About Local Guardians
Local Guardians is an Approved Home Care Provider, that delivers self-managed support and package management services in accordance with the Aged Care Act 1997.
What information does Local Guardians collect about you?
Customer and prospective customers
When you enquire about our services or when you become a client of Local Guardians, a record is made that includes your personal information.
The type of personal information that we collect may vary, but will typically include:
- your name, e-mail, physical address, postal address, and other contact details;
- personal details such as your date of birth, family and emergency contacts, religion, ethnicity and languages spoken, care services needed, care plan details, health conditions, activities, and interests;
- living circumstances, and pension details; and
- any additional personal information you provide to us, or authorise us to collect, as part of your interaction with Local Guardians.
Sensitive Information
Due to the nature of our services, Local Guardians may collect information that is considered sensitive. This may include collecting health information about your conditions and care requirements.
You can always decline to give Local Guardians any personal or sensitive information that we request, but this may mean we cannot provide you with some or all of the services you have requested. If you have any concerns about the personal information we have requested, please let us know.
Collection purposes
The purposes for which Local Guardians usually collects and uses personal information depends on the nature of your interaction with us but may include:
- responding to requests for information and other general inquiries;
- managing, planning, and administering services;
- responding to enquiries and complaints.
Local Guardians generally collect personal information directly from you. We may collect and update your personal information over the phone, by email, over the internet or social media, or in person. We may also collect personal information about you from other sources, for example from:
- referral partners and suppliers;
- government departments or agencies, for example, the Department of Health through their ACAT assessments; and/or
- third-party suppliers and contractors who assist us in operating our business and enable us to provide support and package management services to customers.
Local Guardians also collects and uses personal information for market research purposes and to innovate our delivery of products and services.
How does Local Guardians interact with you via the internet?
You may visit our website https://localguardians.com/ without identifying yourself. If you identify yourself (for example, by providing your contact details in an enquiry), any personal information you provide to Local Guardians will be managed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Local Guardians’ website use cookies. A “cookie” is a small file stored on your computer’s browser, which assists in managing customised settings of the website and in delivering content. We may collect certain information such as your device type, browser type, IP address, pages you have accessed on our website and on third-party websites. You are not identifiable from such information.
You can update the settings in your browser to control how your browser deals with cookies. However, in doing so, you may be unable to access certain pages or content on our website.
Local Guardians’ website may contain links to third-party websites. Local Guardians is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of websites that are linked to from our website.
Can you deal with Local Guardians anonymously?
Local Guardians will provide individuals the opportunity to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym in their dealings with us where it is lawful and practical to do so (for example, when making a general enquiry). Generally, it is not practical for Local Guardians to deal with individuals anonymously or pseudonymously on an ongoing basis. If we do not collect personal information about you, you may be unable to utilise our services or participate in the programs or activities we manage or deliver.
How does Local Guardians hold information?
Local Guardians stores information via electronic record-keeping methods in secure databases (including trusted third-party storage providers based in Australia). We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, and loss and from unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
Local Guardians maintains physical security over electronic data stores, such as through locks and security systems at our premises. We also maintain computer and network security, for example, we use firewalls (security measures for the Internet) and other security systems such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to our computer systems.
Our websites do not necessarily use encryption or other technologies to ensure the secure transmission of information via the Internet. Users of our websites are encouraged to exercise care in sending personal information via the Internet.
We take steps to destroy or de-identify information that we no longer require.
Does Local Guardians use or disclose your personal information for direct marketing?
Local Guardians may use or disclose your personal information for the purpose of informing you about our services, upcoming promotions and events, or other opportunities that may interest you. If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications, you can opt out at any time by contacting us using the contact details below.
If you opt out of receiving marketing material from us, Local Guardians may still contact you in relation to its ongoing relationship with you.
How does Local Guardians use and disclose personal information?
For customers
The purposes for which we may use and disclose your personal information will depend on the services we are providing to you. For example, if you have engaged us to deliver a service, we may disclose information about you to service providers where this is relevant to our services. We will get your consent to disclose this information.
Disclosure to contractors and other service providers
Local Guardians may disclose information to third parties we engage in order to provide our services, including contractors and service providers used for home care services as well as those we might engage for the purposes of data processing, data analysis, customer satisfaction surveys, information technology services and support, website maintenance/development, printing, archiving, mail-outs, and market research.
Personal information may also be shared between related and affiliated companies of Local Guardians, located in Australia.
Third parties to whom we have disclosed your personal information may contact you directly to let you know they have collected your personal information and to give you information about their privacy policies.
Use and disclosure for administration and management
Local Guardians may also use and disclose personal information for a range of administrative, management and operational purposes. This includes:
- administering billing and payments and debt recovery;
- planning, managing, monitoring and evaluating our services;
- continuous improvement activities;
- statistical analysis and reporting;
- training staff, contractors and other workers;
- risk management and management of legal liabilities and claims (for example, liaising with insurers, legal representatives and auditors);
- responding to enquiries and complaints regarding our services;
- obtaining advice from consultants and other professional advisers; and
- responding to subpoenas and other legal orders and obligations.
Other uses and disclosures
We may use and disclose your personal information for other purposes explained at the time of collection or otherwise as set out in this Privacy Policy.
Does Local Guardians disclose your personal information overseas?
Our service providers are located in Australia and outside of Australia. We may transfer or otherwise disclose your personal information to third parties located outside Australia, including for example, third parties who provide information technology and phone services to us.
By providing personal information to us, you consent to the transfer of that personal information.
We will only disclose or transfer your personal information to overseas recipients where we have taken reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the APPs in relation to your personal information.
How can you access or seek correction of your personal information?
You are entitled to access your personal information held by Local Guardians on request. To request access to your personal information please contact our General Manager using the contact details set out below. You will not be charged for requesting to access your personal information.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect, use, or disclose is accurate, complete, and up-to-date. You can help us to do this by letting us know if you notice errors or discrepancies in information, we hold about you and letting us know if your personal details change.
If you consider any personal information, we hold about you is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading you are entitled to request correction of the information. After receiving a request from you, we will take reasonable steps to correct your information.
We may decline your request to access or correct your personal information in certain circumstances in accordance with the APPs. If we do refuse your request, we will provide you with a reason for our decision and, in the case of a request for correction, we will include a statement with your personal information about the requested correction.
What should you do if you have a complaint about the handling of your personal information?
You may contact Local Guardians at any time if you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about how your personal information has been handled.
You may make a complaint about privacy to the General Manager at the contact details set out below.
The General Manager will first consider your complaint to determine whether there are simple or immediate steps that can be taken to resolve the complaint. We will generally respond to your complaint within five business days.
If your complaint requires more detailed consideration or investigation, we will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 business days, and endeavour to complete our investigation into your complaint promptly. We may ask you to provide further information about your complaint and the outcome you are seeking. We will then typically gather relevant facts, locate and review relevant documents and speak with individuals involved.
In most cases, we will investigate and respond to a complaint within 20 days of receipt of the complaint. If the matter is more complex or our investigation may take longer, we will let you know.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, or you consider that Local Guardians may have breached the APPs or the Privacy Act, a complaint may be made to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The OAIC can be contacted by telephone on 1300 363 992 or by using the contact details on the OAIC website.
How are changes made to this privacy policy?
Local Guardians may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, with or without notice. We recommend that you visit our website regularly to keep up to date with any changes.
How can you contact Local Guardians?
The contact details for Local Guardians are:
Email: customer@localguardians.com
Attention: General Manager
Phone: (03) 7067 0555