PRIVACY & DATA
Your information, handled with care.
Open Circle Behaviour Support collects and manages personal and health information as part of providing Behaviour Support services. We aim to keep information collection proportionate, purposeful and secure, and to be clear about how information is used and shared.
Privacy is part of good support.
We manage personal, sensitive and health information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), applicable Health Privacy Principles and requirements applying to registered NDIS providers.
We collect information because it is needed to understand the person, provide Behaviour Support, work safely and collaborate appropriately with the people involved in their support. We aim to collect only information that is relevant to that purpose.
INFORMATION WE HOLD
What we may collect
Contact and identifying information; NDIS and funding information; disability, health and medication information; communication and sensory information; behavioural observations and incident information; assessments and Behaviour Support Plans; information about restrictive practices where relevant; allied-health or provider reports; goals, preferences and consent; and information about family, nominees, carers and others involved in support.
How we use and share information
Information may be used for intake and service coordination, functional behaviour assessment, Behaviour Support planning and review, implementation support, communication with agreed members of the support team, safety and risk management, billing and administration, and meeting legal or regulatory requirements.
Where consent is required, information is shared for the agreed purpose and with the people or organisations relevant to that purpose. Information may also be disclosed where this is required or authorised by law.
ONLINE ENQUIRIES
Keep initial enquiries simple.
The Open Circle website Contact form is intended for initial enquiries and referrals. Please do not include detailed clinical records, Behaviour Support Plans, medical reports or other highly sensitive participant information in the general website form.
Once contact has been established, we can arrange an appropriate way to provide information required for assessment or service delivery.
CLINICAL RECORDS
How participant records are managed
Open Circle Behaviour Support uses a secure practice-management system for participant and service records.
For Australian customers, our practice-management primary data hosting is located in Australia and that information is protected using measures including encryption, access controls and backups.
Access to participant information is limited according to role and need. Open Circle also considers privacy and information-security implications before enabling integrations or introducing additional systems that may handle participant information.
Keeping information secure
Open Circle takes reasonable steps to protect information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Access to participant information is limited according to role and need, approved systems are used for participant records, and sensitive information is not downloaded, duplicated or transferred unnecessarily. Participant records are retained for the period required by applicable health-record, NDIS and other legal requirements. Records may be retained longer where another legal, regulatory, insurance or service requirement applies.
YOUR INFORMATION
Access, correction and consent
You may ask to access personal or health information Open Circle holds about you and may request correction where information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.
You can also ask questions about how your information is being used or shared, or ask to change or withdraw consent for a particular information-sharing arrangement, subject to information Open Circle is legally required to retain, use or disclose.
If something goes wrong
If personal information is lost, accessed without authorisation or disclosed incorrectly, Open Circle will assess the incident, take steps to contain and reduce any harm, and review what needs to change. Where a breach meets the requirements of the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, affected individuals and the relevant regulator will be notified as required.
PRIVACY QUESTIONS
Questions about your information?
If you have a question about privacy, want to access or correct information, or would like to raise a concern, please contact us.
Email: hello@opencircle.au
Office: Suite 84, 39–41 Williamson Street, Bendigo VIC 3550