Privacy Policy

Community Care Chemist Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement

Use of this site is subject to our Privacy Policy.

Community Care Chemist provides you with access to www.communitycarechemist.com.au. Please read through our Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement carefully.

If you do not understand our Privacy Policy or if you have any questions, please call us directly on (03) 5246 5800, and a staff member will be more than happy to help you.

About this Policy

This Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement explains how Community Care Chemist Friendly Society Ltd. (hereafter referred to as “Community Care Chemist”, “we”, “our” and “us”) collects, uses and protects the privacy of your personal and health information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (“APP’s”) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). For the sake of clarity in this Policy:

• ‘personal information’ means information or an opinion about you or which reasonably identifies you (subject to the exclusion outlined below).
  ‘health information’ includes:
• information or opinions about your health or disability (whether physical or mental);
• personal information collected to provide you a health service or while providing you with a health service;
• personal information collected in connection with an actual or intended donation of body parts, organs or substances;
• information about the medicines or health care services you use or have used in the past;
• your preferences about the future provision of health or pharmaceutical services to you;
• information about any disabilities you may have;
• genetic information that is or could be predictive of your health or the health of your offspring.
• ‘health service’ means the dispensing on prescription of a drug or medicinal preparation by a pharmacist or an activity intended for assessing, recording, maintaining or improving your health or to diagnose or treat your illness or disability.

This Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement applies to any personal or health information we collect from you, whether it is collected over the counter, via our web site, under any agreement or arrangement and to any personal or health information we collect about you from other entities or sources.

This Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement does not apply to personal information contained in employee records of Community Care Chemist’s current and former employees.

How we collect your personal information

We only collect your personal and/or health information if it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities, directly from you. Generally, we collect personal information about you when we fill a prescription for you, when you deal with us over the counter or over the telephone or on our website, when you send us correspondence (whether by letter, facsimile or e-mail), when you subscribe to become a member of Community Care Chemist Friendly Society Ltd., any of its rewards programs or whenever you have direct contact with us.

Generally, the type of personal and/or health information we collect about you includes your name, residential and mailing address, telephone number, your medical practitioner’s name, the medication you are prescribed, your Medicare number, and dates of birth (where relevant).

There may be occasions when we need to source personal information about you from a third party or when we collect your personal information from third parties, such as your treating medical practitioner or other health professional or a relative or friend who presents a prescription to us on your behalf. This Privacy and Disclosure Statement applies to any information we collect in that way also.

Our disclosure statement – why we collect your personal and health information

Community Care Chemist collects your personal and/or health information for the following purposes:

• if you are a patient, to dispense prescription drugs or medicinal preparations and to provide you with health services;
• if you are a member of the Community Care Chemist Friendly Society Ltd., and/or any of its programs, to process or send you information about our services and products (including new products and services), your payment or account information, your membership information, to conduct promotions, competitions and/or membership programs, to improve our product or service offering, to administer our databases; and
• to do any act or thing required by law.

Community Care Chemist may also collect your personal information for purposes related to the purposes listed above.

Some of the information we collect we are required to collect under State and Commonwealth law, for example, requirements under National Health Act 1953 (Cth) and the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 (Cth) as well as under State legislation.

If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to fill your prescription, provide you with products or services or provide you with the appropriate health service required. If you are subscribing to be a member of Community Care Chemist Friendly Society Ltd. Program we may not be able to process your membership application. You may also choose to communicate with us anonymously or using a pseudonym, however doing so may also affect our ability to provide you with products, services or health services relevant to your needs.

How we use or disclose your personal and/or health information

We will use your personal and/or health information for the primary purpose for which it was collected. We may also use your personal and/or health information for purposes related or ancillary to the main reasons we collect it, such as invoicing, reminder notices, provision of information concerning health-related services or other services offered by us.

If you are a patient, we may disclose your personal and/or health information to:

• your treating medical practitioner in order to confirm your prescription or to alert them to contradictions or conflicting medications;
• a Government Department as required by law, for example, under the National Health Act 1953 (Cth);
• an enforcement body as required by law, for example, to the Police during a criminal investigation;
• officers of the court as required under the law, for example, patient information requested under subpoena;

Other than for a reason permitted by law, we will not disclose your personal or health information to anyone else without your written consent.

We engage third party contractors to perform services for us, which may involve a contractor handling your personal and/or health information. For example, we engage third party contractors to destroy archived prescriptions greater than three years old. In these situations, we prohibit the third party contractor from using or disclosing your personal or health information except for the specific purpose for which they are engaged.

Other people’s information which you provide to us

If you provide someone else’s personal and/or health information to us (such as that of your children, a relative or someone with whom you have dealings) you should ensure that you are entitled to disclose that information to us. We will collect and use such information only for the purposes for which it was provided or any relevant ancillary purpose (i.e. related to the purposes of provision of pharmaceutical services). Where possible, you should take reasonable steps to ensure the individual concerned is aware of the contents of this Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement, including our identity, how to contact us, our purpose(s) of collection, our information disclosure practices, and the individual’s right to obtain access to and update the information held by us.

Will you receive direct marketing?

If you provide us with your personal information and you consent to receiving direct marketing communications from us, you authorise us to send you member messages and information concerning health related services or other services offered by us, unless you submit a later request not to receive direct marketing communications. Our direct marketing messages and materials will contain a prominent statement (including, for electronic messages, a functional unsubscribe facility) that you may request not to receive direct marketing communications.

Use of Cookies

We may store some information on your computer such as cookies when you visit our website. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to the hard drive of a visitor’s computer for record-keeping purposes. This information facilitates your use of the website. You can erase or choose to block this information from your computer if you want to. Erasing or blocking such information may limit the range of features available to you on the website.

Gaining access to the information we hold about you

We will, on reasonable request, provide you with access to the personal and/or health information we hold about you where we are legally obliged to do so. Your request should be directed towards the managing pharmacist, or the support center, depending on who is storing your personal and/or health information.

Your request to obtain access to your personal and/or health information will be dealt with in a reasonable time. If the request covers records spanning a substantial period of time or relates to a large number of records, we may request that you put your request in writing.

If we refuse to provide you with access to your personal or health information, we will provide you with reasons for such refusal.

Keeping your personal information up-to-date

We will take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal and health information that we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If any personal or health information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us immediately and we will take reasonable steps to correct this information or, if necessary, we will discuss alternative action with you.

Security of your personal information

Your personal and health information is stored in a secure electronic records management database which can only be accessed by our employees or authorised contractors for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement. Any hardcopy records that contain personal and/or health information will be kept in an area that is only accessible by our employees or authorised employees and is not available to the general public. We protect any information that we hold from misuse and loss. We also protect it from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

The electronic database maintains an audit trail whenever personal or health information is included, amended or deleted on the database.

When no longer needed, personal and health records will be deleted or destroyed in a secure manner, subject to legal requirements.

Will your information be disclosed overseas?

We are unlikely to disclose your personal information to any person or entity outside Australia, but will inform you if and when this is necessary.

How to contact us or make a complaint

If your query or complaint relates to member services or you are unable to obtain the information you require from our pharmacy you can contact our CEO at our registered office.

If you have a question or want to make a complaint about how we handle your personal information, please contact our CEO using the details below.

We will review any question, complaint or concern you may have and will respond to you after we have carefully considered it. We will, where reasonably possible, take steps to investigate and resolve complaints within 30 days. Please note, we may require further information from you in order to resolve any complaints. If we need more time, we will notify you about the reasons for the delay and seek to agree a longer period with you (if you do not agree, we may not be able to resolve your complaint). If we cannot resolve a complaint related to your privacy, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”) directly.

Or for more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, please visit the OAIC website at www.oaic.gov.au.

CEO
Community Care Chemist Friendly Society Ltd.
Registered Office:
28 Church St, North Geelong Vic., 3215
enquiries@communitycarechemist.com.au
P: (03) 5246 5800