Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, use, disclose and handle your personal information when you interact with us. Our handling of personal information is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth), and other relevant State and Territory laws that govern the use of personal information and health records.

Policy definitions

In this Privacy Policy: Us: The terms ‘us’, ‘we’ or ‘our’ mean National Dental Care – NDC Australia Pty Ltd, ABN 49 162 955 866, our related entity and SmileFund plan provider NDC Service Co Pty Ltd, ABN 11 162 958 072, and including Banksia Grove Family Dental, our other NDC and DB Dental clinics and our services, and our other non-National Dental Care and non-DB Dental branded dental practices. You: The terms ‘you’ or ‘your’ mean the person interacting with us and our services and using our services, or visiting our website. Personal information: Means information or opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, and whether the information or opinion is true or not and is recorded in a material form or not. Examples of personal information include your name, address and telephone number, and your date of birth. Sensitive information: Is a type of personal information that is given a higher level of protection under the Privacy Act, and includes health, genetic and biometric information as well as information about race or ethnic origin, sexual orientation and criminal record. Health information: Includes information or an opinion about an individual’s physical or mental health or disability, their health preferences including about the future provision of health services, use of health services, and genetics.

Effective date: 31 July 2024

The types of personal information that we collect from you will depend on how you interact with us, your relationship with us and the nature of the services we provide to you, and also the legal obligations we may have. Personal information we may collect from you includes:

• Name
• Address, telephone number(s) and email address
• Date of birth
• Family relationships Personal Interests, e.g. sport played
• Occupation
• Banking & Payment details
• Medicare number
• Pension, Veteran’s Affairs or other relevant concession details
• Details of other treating practitioners such as your GP
• Dental and medical history, test results, x-rays, diagnosis and treatments

If you’re applying for employment with us, personal information will also be collected about your employment application such as information about your qualifications and employment history, police checks and Blue Card details.

Information collected by our website

When you visit our website – including sub-sites and pages, we collect non-personally identifiable information, including your browser type, version and language, operating system, pages viewed while browsing the Website, page access times and referring website address. This information is used for the purpose of gauging visitor traffic, trends, and delivering personalized content to you while you are at the Website. As you browse the Website, advertising cookies will be placed on your computer so that we can understand what you are interested in. Cookies identify your IP address and browser type. Our display advertising partner, AdRoll, then enables us to present you with retargeting advertising on other sites based on your previous interaction with www.nationaldentalcare.com.au. The techniques our partners employ do not collect personal information such as your name, email address, postal address or telephone number. You can visit this page (http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices) to opt-out of AdRoll and their partners’ targeted advertising. While cookies enable better website functionality, you can choose to reject them if you wish. Third-party links Our Website may contain links to other websites that are not ours. These websites are not subject to our Privacy Policy, and we are not responsible for the content of these websites or the privacy practices of these websites or the businesses that operate them. You should check the privacy policies published on such websites before providing your personal information.

How we collect personal information

We will generally collect your personal and sensitive information from you directly (unless you are unable to provide the information). For example, we collect your information from you when you complete and provide the following:

• Information and consent forms
• Administration and financial forms
• Employment applications for a role with us
• Personal and sensitive information provided to us in person or over the telephone
• When a complaint is lodged with us
• Medical History Questionnaire
• Treatment and services enquiry forms (marketing)
• With your consent during treatment (for example, photographs taken with your consent during your treatment)

If we are unable to collect personal information from you directly, we may obtain it from a third party, such as an authorised representative or family member, another health provider, or other sources where necessary to provide our services to you. Some of our premises and dental practices may use Closed Circuit Television Surveillance (CCTV), to maintain the security and safety of staff, clients, visitors and property. These CCTV systems may collect and store personal information Anonymity If you wish to, you can deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym (provided doing so does not contravene the law or other legal requirements). However, for us to provide you with any services, we will generally need to know your details.

How we use and disclose your personal information

We use and disclose your personal information only for the purpose for which we have collected it. There are some exceptions to this under the Privacy Act, including where:

• You have consented to the use of your personal information for another purpose;
• Your personal information is used or disclosed for another related purpose;
• The information is sensitive information; the other purpose is directly related to the purpose the sensitive information was collected;
• We are required or authorised by law to disclose your information for another purpose;
• The use or disclosure is otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act.

We may use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

• To provide you with dental treatment and ongoing care, including providing you with reminders for appointments and follow-ups;
• To enable co-ordination between us and other providers involved in your dental care and treatment;
• To provide information to a responsible person (such as a parent, guardian or spouse) if you are incapable or unable to communicate, unless you have requested that we do not disclose particular information;
• For invoicing, billing and account management;
• To manage our business, service monitoring, planning, evaluation and complaint handling, and for insurance and legal services;
• In quality assurance processes, accreditations and authorisations, managing risk and for staff education and training;
• To conduct client surveys, and client and market research and analysis;
• To compile and analyse statistics relevant to public health and safety (such as reporting a notifiable disease);
• To let you know about news and updates on National Dental Care and our group dental practices, and promotions and events you may be interested in; and
• To assess your employment application, if you’re applying for a role with us.

We engage other organisations to provide services to us or on our behalf, including but not limited to business, technology and corporate services, handling customer support enquiries, marketing and recruitment. Those organisations will have access to only the personal information they need to deliver the service they provide to us. National Dental Care takes reasonable steps to ensure that these organisations are bound by confidentiality and privacy obligations in relation to the protection of your personal information.

Storage and security of your personal information

We take all reasonable precautions to safeguard your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification, disclosure or destruction. We implement a range of physical and electronic security measures to protect the personal information that we hold, including:

• Maintaining a secure environment for storage of information, whether in electronic form or in hard copy; and
• Using industry standard security measures, such as restricting access to authorised personnel only, and encryption of certain data (when data is in transit and at rest) and password protection to secure information kept in electronic form.

Overseas disclosure of your personal information

Some of the third parties we disclose your personal information to, such as organisations who provide technology and other services on our behalf, may be located or may use technology facilities located outside Australia. The countries in which these third parties are located will depend on the circumstances. However, in the course of our ordinary business operations we commonly disclose personal information, including health information, to third parties (and some of our technology providers store data on servers) located in the USA and France.

Accessing and correction of your personal information

You have a right to request access to or correction of your personal information held by us, subject to exceptions allowed by law. If you wish to access, correct or update the personal information we hold about you, please contact us as set out below. You may be required to put your request in writing and will be required to verify your identity for security reasons. National Dental Care reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee for searching for, and providing access to, your information on a per request basis as permitted by the Privacy Act. There is no charge for requesting the correction of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may change the way we handle personal information from time to time. If we do, we will update this Privacy Policy accordingly.

Our complaints process

If you have any concerns about our handling of your personal information, or you believe that we have not complied with this Privacy Policy or the Privacy Act, please contact us as set out below. Our Privacy Officer will investigate the complaint and determine whether a breach has occurred and what steps (if any) to take. We will take any privacy complaint seriously. We will aim to resolve any complaint in a timely manner, and our target response time is 30 days. We ask you to cooperate with us during any complaint process and provide us with relevant information that we may require from you. We expect that our complaints process will deal with your complaint fairly and efficiently. However, if you remain dissatisfied, you can also make a formal complaint (in writing) with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): Mail Director of Compliance Office of the Australian Information Commissioner GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 P: 1300 363 992 W: www.oaic.gov.au

Contact us

National Dental Care welcomes your comments regarding the Policy. If you have any questions about the Policy and would like further information, please contact us by any of the following means during business hours Monday to Friday. Privacy Officer National Dental Care 6 Holt Street McMahons Point, NSW 2060 P: (02) 9008 0300 E: reception@nationaldentalcare.com.au