Our policies

Online Privacy

Last updated: 17 June 2022

At Scar Care, we are committed to protecting your privacy as a customer and an online visitor to our website. We use the information we collect about you to maximize the services that we provide to you. We respect the privacy and confidentiality of the information provided by you and adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles. Please read our privacy policy below carefully.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT FROM YOU

In the course of your visits to our website or use of our products and services, we may obtain the following information about you: name, company name, email address, telephone number, credit card details, billing address, geographic location, IP address, survey responses, support queries, blog comments and social media handles (together ‘Personal Data’).

Our services are not directed to persons under 18 and we do not knowingly collect Personal Data from anyone under 18. If we become aware that a child under 18 has provided us with Personal Data, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you are the parent or guardian of a child and you believe they have provided us with Personal Data without your consent, then please contact us.

You can review, correct, update or delete your Personal Data by either logging into your account and making the changes yourself or contacting us directly to do so.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

Personally Identifiable Information: We use the information we collect to deliver our services to you, including: communicating with you, providing technical support, notifying you of updates and offers, sharing useful content, measuring customer satisfaction, diagnosing problems and providing you with a personalised website experience.

Marketing communications are only sent to you if you have requested or subscribed to them. You can opt out of our marketing communications at any time by unsubscribing or emailing us and your request will be actioned immediately.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information: We also use the information we collect in aggregated and anonymized forms to improve our services, including: administering our website, producing reports and analytics, advertising our products and services, identifying user demands and assisting in meeting customer needs generally.

Any information you choose to make publicly available, such as blog comments and testimonials on our website, will be available for others to see. If you subsequently remove this information, copies may remain viewable in cached and archived pages on other websites or if others have copied or saved the information.

STORAGE AND SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION

We will use all reasonable means to protect the confidentiality of your Personal Data while in our possession or control. All information we receive from you is stored and protected on our secure servers from unauthorized use or access. Credit card information is encrypted before transmission and is not stored by us on our servers.

To enable us to deliver our services, we may transfer information that we collect about you, including Personal Data, across borders for storage and processing in countries other than Australia. If your Personal Data is transferred and processed outside Australia, it will only be transferred to countries that have adequate privacy protections.

We retain your personal information for as long as needed to provide services to you and as otherwise necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.

In the event there is a breach of our security and your Personal Data is compromised, we will promptly notify you in compliance with the applicable law.

COOKIES AND PIXELS

A cookie is a small file placed in your web browser that collects information about your web browsing behaviour. Use of cookies allows a website to tailor its configuration to your needs and preferences. Cookies do not access information stored on your computer or any Personal Data (e.g. name, address, email address or telephone number). Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can choose to reject cookies by changing your browser settings. This may, however, prevent you from taking full advantage of our website.

Our website uses cookies to analyse website traffic, provide social media sharing and liking functionality and help us provide a better website visitor experience. In addition, cookies and pixels may be used to serve relevant ads to website visitors through third party services such as Google Adwords and Facebook Adverts. These ads may appear on this website or other websites you visit.

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES

We do not and will not sell or deal in Personal Data or any customer information.

Your Personal Data details are only disclosed to third party suppliers when it is required by law, for goods or services which you have purchased, for payment processing or to protect our copyright, trademarks and other legal rights. To the extent that we do share your Personal Data with a service provider, we would only do so if that party has agreed to comply with our privacy standards as described in this privacy policy and in accordance with applicable law. Our contracts with third parties prohibit them from using any of your Personal Data for any purpose other than that for which it was shared.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may from time to time need to disclose certain information, which may include your Personal Data, to comply with a legal requirement, such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, warrant, in the course of a legal proceeding or in response to a law enforcement agency request. Also, we may use your Personal Data to protect the rights, property or safety of Scar Care, our customers or third parties.

If there is a change of control in one of our businesses (whether by merger, sale, transfer of assets or otherwise) customer information, which may include your Personal Data, could be transferred to a purchaser under a confidentiality agreement. We would only disclose your Personal Data in good faith and where required by any of the above circumstances.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

This website may contain links to other websites. These links are meant for your convenience only. Links to third party websites do not constitute sponsorship or endorsement or approval of these websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites. We encourage our users to be aware, when they leave our website, to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by this website.

In-Practice Privacy

Information needs to be collected about you for the primary purpose of providing a thorough and quality occupational therapy service. In order to thoroughly assess and provide therapy, personal information will need to be collected from you. This information will be used for:

- Determining an appropriate management plan

- Billing either directly or through an insurer or compensation agency

- For referral purposes

Your occupational therapist may need to ask personal questions regarding your activities of daily living or functional activity. Our staff adheres to the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia Code of Conduct and the relevant privacy legislation. Please notify your therapist if you are uncomfortable answering these types of questions, and they will cease immediately.

It may be necessary to disclose information - face to face, by telephone, or by email - to other relevant service providers involved in your management, in order to gain funding for treatment or to ensure quality treatment provision. These may include your doctor, medical specialists, other health providers, insurers, solicitors, employers or others, but only where it is considered to be of benefit to your progress.

Your personal information will not be disclosed to overseas recipients, or any other third parties identified by you. You can provide the names of the individuals or organisations who you do not wish Scar Care to discuss your management with on your new patient and consent form during your initial appointment.

CHANGE IN PRIVACY POLICY

As we plan to ensure our privacy policy remains current, this policy is subject to change. We may modify this policy at any time, in our sole discretion and all modifications will be effective immediately upon our posting of the modifications on this website. Please return periodically to review our privacy policy.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or concerns at any time about our privacy policy or the use of your Personal Data, please contact us at admin@scarcare.com.au, and we will respond within 48 hours

Cancelation and Non-attendance

This policy will be made available to all patients at the time of booking.

Patients are encouraged to contact the clinic by phone, email or SMS at their earliest convenience to advise when they cannot attend a scheduled appointment. This allows staff to make alternative arrangements and ensures that therapists do not spend time preparing and planning for sessions that do not occur.

Patients who provide less than 24 hours’ notice or patients who fail to attend a scheduled appointment may be charged a $50 cancellation fee. This policy will be made clear to patients at the time of booking.

However, it is recognised that there may be circumstances whereby this policy is not applied (e.g. flooding), and Clinic Partners and/or Practice Managers have discretion regarding whether or not a patient will be charged this fee.

Case managers of compensable patients may be notified if patients cancel with short notice or fail to attend a scheduled appointment. In some circumstances, Scar Care may seek pre-payment of approved sessions.

Suspension of all scheduled appointments:

Scar Care will take reasonable steps by phone, email and/or SMS to contact the patient when there is a history of frequent cancellations and missed appointments.

Scar Care may ask you to advise on when you are available to re-commit to your therapy programme and goals.

How Scar Care will help patients with appointments:

Scar Care therapists and receptionists will help patients remember appointments by:

  • Providing a printout of scheduled appointments if requested

  • Sending SMS text reminders prior to the scheduled appointment

In the event of a no-show for a scheduled session, Scar Care may do any of the following to ensurethe safety and well-being of the patient and their family:

  • Phone or SMS the patient or family

  • Determine if there are additional supports required to assist the patient liaise with other team members (where consents are in place)

Cancellation by a Scar Care team member:

Therapists may have to cancel scheduled appointments due to attendance at conferences, annual holidays, illness or other unforeseen circumstances. Patients will be offered a rescheduled appointment where practical and available within the clinic’s appointment schedule.

The clinic will make every endeavour to advise the patient ASAP by phone, email or SMS where practical.

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please do not hesitate to ask your Scar Care therapist or send us an enquiry at admin@scarcare.com.au.

Costs associated with therapy

Information regarding fees for services and products are available on our website. Your therapist will discuss the costs involved in therapy, either privately paying or billed to a third party.

Digital Images

Occasionally, digital images may be taken for the purposes of assessment or treatment. These images will not be used for any other purpose other than those described, without further consent.

These images will be stored securely, and deleted once treatment is completed.

Physical Contact

As scar and oedema occupational therapists, physical contact will be necessary during the

course of assessment and treatment. You may withdraw your consent for physical contact at

any time and physical contact will cease immediately. Please inform your occupational therapist

if anything can be done to assist your comfort or if you have any concerns.

Complaints

Scar Care is committed to providing the highest level of service to you However, there may be a time when you are unhappy with a course of action taken, or believed to have been taken, by a Scar Care employee.

Scar Care is committed to complaint handling and we will:

  • implement and maintain a complaint management system

  • make sure you can easily make a complaint

  • deal with all complaints fairly and quickly

  • have information available on how to:

- submit a complaint

- submit a complaint to the Commissioner when appropriate

- keep records on all complaints received

Who can make a complaint?

Anyone can make a complaint including:

  • a patient

  • a patient’s family or guardian

  • a patient’s financial manager or advocate

  • an employee

  • a community visitor

  • a professional

  • a member of the public

You can make a complaint to:

  • to the specific clinic location (in person, email, writing or phone)

  • to Support Office - via email: feedback@healthia.com.au

  • in writing: L4 East Tower, 25 Montpelier Road, Bowen Hills QLD, 4006

  • by phone: 07 3180 4900

  • The Office of the Health Ombudsmen (OHO)

Complaints help us:

  • identify problems

  • improve services

  • provide better outcomes for patients.

You can make a complaint about any part of the quality or delivery of our services, such as if there is dissatisfaction:

  • with the way services are provided

  • with decisions we have made

  • about the conduct of our employees

  • about personal information not kept private.

Complaints can be made anonymously or directly to us.