The Deaf Society of New South Wales is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our clients. We only collect information that is necessary to assist clients in the most appropriate and effective way.
When accessing Deaf Society services, clients must first provide personal information via a referral. The client must give their permission or accept a referral to the Deaf Society. If informed consent cannot be secured, the referral cannot be accepted. In the interests of accuracy and consistency, Deaf Society employees may only complete referral forms.
During the initial contact the staff member will outline that personal information will be collected as part of the referral process and on an ongoing basis if you become a casework client. They will explain the process that you will be involved in and how your personal information will be used as part of that process.
If you become involved with the Deaf Society as a casework client, your case progress and planning will be maintained by date ordered progressive case notes. All notes will be framed in a respectful and useful way; extraneous comments will not form part of the case notes. Notes will be updated after each contact, ensuring that all personal information held is accurate and up-to-date.
If you are not a casework client, you can access the Community Work Service on an ad hoc basis during specific times. During these times, no appointment is required. As the Community Worker on duty rotates, a drop-in form is kept. To avoid duplication and to keep a record of actions taken, the drop- in book takes a record of the date, nature of your request, any action taken, and your name. The Community Worker will advise you at the start of the meeting that these details will be recorded. If no further action is required, a record of the meeting will not be kept.
If you wish to remain anonymous during a drop-in meeting you may do so, however this may limit the assistance the Deaf Society can provide. The Deaf Society of New South Wales reserves the right to refuse service if it is not in accordance with our ethics or professional standards.
All personal information that is kept is filed by client name and is dated. All case work files are kept in the office for a period of 2 years after the last entry. The file will then be archived for 5 years. After this period the file will be destroyed.
In relation to destruction of files, the exception is if you are unable to provide your own history, have a psychiatric disability or are part of a child protection case.
At all times, any notes, forms, files containing personal information, will be secured in a central locked filing cabinet and can only be accessed by the Deaf Society service staff and the Executive Directors.
All computer generated correspondence is created and stored on password protected computers, ensuring that no unauthorised access can occur.
Clients and unauthorised visitors are not allowed access to the main office area, thereby eliminating any opportunity to access files and computers stored in this area.
In the event that files need to be transported between Deaf Society offices, they will be hand delivered by a service staff member or delivered by registered post. If a file must be taken to a client meeting it will be secured by the caseworker at all times and returned to the central files at the completion of the meeting. At no time will the file be left unattended.
Clients of the Deaf Society will have access to any file bearing their name. The files remain the property of the Deaf Society. Documents may not be removed from the file but may be photocopied if the information contained relates solely to you. The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 1989 stipulates that any information or reference to a third party should not be made available unless the third party consents to release.
A person with parental/guardian consent may access your records if you are a minor or under guardianship orders. Parents/guardians may also access information. You will be consulted prior to release of your information.
If you or a parent / guardian wishes to access your personal records, they may undertake the following actions:
- make an informal request to your caseworker, the service manager or an Executive Director.
- make a formal application under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Deaf Society will not release your personal information to any other parties, unless we are required to do so by law eg. Dept of Community Services, the Police or courts of law. If in the course of your contact with the Deaf Society, if it is to your benefit to release your information to another agency, your permission will be sought. We will endeavour to have written consent, however should it not be possible, you will be present at the time of information transmission.
Your family and associates will not be contacted or involved in your case, without previously consulting you and receiving your approval. An exception may be made where you are at risk of serious harm or causing harm to another person(s). All steps will be taken to avoid such intervention and at all times the rights, wishes and dignity of clients are of primary concern to the Deaf Society of New South Wales.
The only other ways in which your personal information will be used is:
- reporting of client activity to the service manager
- team discussion for improved service provision
- formulation of statistics (these are anonymous)
- via external supervision where your caseworker may discuss issues relating to your case as part of debriefing. This is strictly confidential.
When contacting the Deaf Society by voice telephone, the conversation will not be recorded in any way (eg. audio recording). If you contact the Deaf Society by TTY, the conversation may be recorded via a TTY printer. If the contents of the conversation are to be recorded for a message or to be kept on file, they will be handwritten as would be the case in a voice conversation. Immediately after the message/file note has been written, the printout will be discarded.
The Deaf Society takes the issues of privacy and confidentiality very seriously. If you would like to discuss our policy or enquire about your personal information currently on our files, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you are concerned or would like to make a complaint about our privacy procedures, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you have any unresolved concerns, you may have them addressed in accordance with the Deaf Society Complaints Procedure. |
