SOUTHERN SYDNEY COMMUNITY CARE INTRANET PRIVACY STATEMENT

(as at 14/1/2005)

The Southern Sydney Community Care Intranet (SSCCI) was developed to improve communication between community care service providers and allow them to provide information to other interested people in the wider community, including potential service users.  It consists of two sections:

• a public website containing a service directory and resources for carers and consumers; and
• a closed section for members only containing resources for service providers.

The contents are entered and updated by the members, who are responsible for the information about their own organisations.  The SSCCI is overseen by an Intranet Management Group (IMG) of service providers. 

Individual service providers may collect personal information from individuals who contact them; however the SSCCI does not seek to collect personal information.  When you browse our website you browse anonymously. Personal information is not collected as you browse.  If you send an enquiry email to the SSCCI you may remain anonymous if you prefer (ie. don't use your name etc in the email).  If you send an enquiry email to the SSCCI containing personal information, it will be received by one of the nominated members of the IMG and become subject to the practices of their organisation in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988.  Current IMG member organisations are:

• Kogarah Council
• DIRC
• Sutherland Shire Community Care Network (www.ssccn.org.au)
• Inner South West Community Development Organisation
• Alzheimer’s Australia (NSW)

  In general, all IMG members will ensure:

• Any information you provide will be treated confidentially;
• We will not disclose your personal information to anyone without your consent;
• If you asked us for specific information, there are times a description of your needs may be shared with other workers so that the best advice and support available can be provided, but it will not include identifying details, like your name).
• There are also occasions, though uncommon, when the law requires confidential information to be disclosed.  This might occur when the health or wellbeing of a person is threatened and thus there is a strong public interest in disclosing that information.

IMG members will answer any questions you have about this as a part of the response to your email. For enquiries, email via the Feedback function on the website (http://www.sscci.org.au/feedback/).

About the Privacy Act

As from December 2001, the service providers are required to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and future amendments. The National Privacy Principles set out the core requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 and how an organisation should collect, use, keep, secure and disclose personal information. The National Privacy Principles also give individuals the right to know what information an organisation holds about him or her, and the right to correct that information if it is incorrect.