PRIVACY AND ACCESSIBILITY
WattleCare Services is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information in a safe and responsible way. This page explains how we collect, hold, use and protect your information when you use our website or receive care from us. We follow the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
Your Information Is Personal. We Treat It That Way.
To provide safe care, we need to know some things about you.
We only collect information we need to provide, plan and manage your care, meet our responsibilities and communicate with you.
Depending on the care you receive, we may need your name, date of birth and contact details; your home and service address; emergency contacts; next of kin, attorney, guardian or other representative details; Medicare, DVA, My Aged Care and NDIS reference numbers, and healthcare identifier details; referral information; health and medical history; medicines, allergies and treatments; clinical notes, assessments, care plans and incident records; your Support Plan or NDIS plan, and funding and service details; information about mobility, memory, nutrition, skin and daily living; appointment and billing details; and messages between you, your representative and the people involved in your care.
We also collect contact details and the content of enquiries from people who write or call on someone else's behalf, from people who refer to us and from job applicants.
Much of this is health information. We collect it with your consent, or where the law requires or allows it.
Why We Need Your Information
We use your information to check that our services are suitable and safe for you, plan and provide your care, keep your care records up to date, communicate with you and the people you choose, work with your GP and other health professionals, arrange appointments and follow-up, manage funding, accounts and payments, look into concerns and incidents, and meet our legal, aged care, NDIS, insurance and quality responsibilities.
We will not use your information for a different purpose unless you agree, you would reasonably expect it and it is directly related to your care, or the law allows or requires it.
How We Collect and Hold Your Information
Where we can, we collect information directly from you. We may also receive it from your representative, your GP, hospital, pharmacist or other health professionals, the person who referred you, My Aged Care, the NDIA, and government agencies or insurers where this relates to your care or funding.
We hold information in secure electronic systems and, in some cases, on paper. If we receive information we did not ask for and could not lawfully have collected, we destroy or de-identify it where it is lawful and reasonable to do so.
Who May See Your Information?
Only people who need your information for an appropriate reason should have access to it.
This may include members of the WattleCare Services team involved in your care, staff of our sister organisation Wattle and River Home Health where you agree or the law allows, and, where appropriate, your chosen representative or support person, your GP, nurse practitioner or specialist, hospitals, pharmacies, pathology and allied health providers, Medicare, DVA, the NDIA, government agencies involved in your aged care or NDIS funding or regulation, insurers, and the service providers who run our secure systems.
We will ask for your consent when it is needed and respect your choices about who is involved in your care. Sometimes the law requires or allows information to be shared without consent, including where there is a serious risk to someone's life, health or safety.
One Team, One Standard of Care
We work as one team with Wattle and River Home Health, our sister organisation under the same ownership. Our nurses and care staff work across both, and we share one inbox.
Whoever is helping you sees only the information they need to care for you.
Information Stored or Handled Outside Australia
Your care records are held in Australia. We keep them in AlayaCare, our care management system, which is hosted in Australia.
Some of the tools we use for enquiries and bookings, such as our website, online forms, booking calendar and messaging, are provided by overseas companies. This means we are likely to disclose some personal information to overseas recipients, including in the United States. These companies act on our instructions to provide their service to us. If you message us through Facebook Messenger or Instagram, Meta also handles your message under its own terms and privacy policy.
You can ask us for a list of the companies we use and the countries involved.
Keeping Your Information Safe
We use systems and processes designed to protect your personal and health information. These include access controls, passwords and multi-factor authentication, secure transfer, staff confidentiality and training, secure storage, and checks on the providers we use.
If something happens that may affect the privacy or security of your information, we will act quickly to assess and respond to it. Where the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires it, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Digital Tools, Telehealth and AI-Assisted Notes
We use secure digital systems for care coordination, telehealth, clinical notes, rostering and messages.
Where we use AI-assisted documentation or similar tools, we do so in line with the law and our consent and privacy processes. Any audio, transcripts or AI-assisted notes are kept as part of your care record and protected in the same way.
My Health Record and Healthcare Identifiers
Where it is relevant and authorised, we may use healthcare identifiers and may view or upload information to My Health Record in line with the law.
How Long We Keep Information
We keep your information for as long as it is needed for your care and for as long as the law, professional standards and insurance require. When it is no longer needed and we are allowed to, we securely destroy or de-identify it.
You Can See Your Information
You can ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you. You can also ask us to correct information if you think it is wrong, out of date or incomplete.
You can ask by phone, email or letter using the details below. We may need to confirm your identity before we give you access. We will reply within a reasonable time. If we cannot give you access, we will explain why in writing unless the law says we do not have to. We do not charge you for asking.
Cookies and Website Tracking
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to keep the site working and to understand how it is used. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, although some parts of the site may then not work as well.
If you send us an enquiry through the website, we use what you give us to reply and to check whether our services suit you.
Messages About Our Services
We may tell you about our services where the law allows. We do not use your health information for this without your consent. You can ask us to stop at any time.
You Choose Who Is Involved
You may choose to have a family member, friend, advocate or representative involved in your care.
We will ask you who you would like us to communicate with and what information you are happy for us to share.
Having someone support you does not mean you stop having a voice in your own care. Where you can make your own decisions, you remain at the centre of those decisions.
Information Should Make Sense to You
Everyone communicates differently. We want you to understand the information we give you and feel able to take part in decisions about your care.
Tell us what helps you communicate best. This might include having information explained more slowly, plain language, information written down, larger print, having someone you trust with you, pictures or other communication aids, an interpreter, or extra time to ask questions or make decisions.
We will work with you to find a way of communicating that meets your needs wherever reasonably possible.
Using Our Website
We aim to make the WattleCare Services website clear, simple and easy to use.
If you cannot access information on our website, find something hard to understand or need it another way, please call us on 1300 280 062 or email admin@wattlecare.com.au. We would rather help you get the information than have the website become a barrier.
Your Right to Privacy and Accessible Information
Everyone who receives care from us has the right to have their privacy respected and their personal information protected. People receiving funded aged care also have the right to receive information about their care and services, receive information in a way they understand and communicate in the language or method they prefer. We take these rights seriously.
Have a Privacy Concern?
If you are worried about how your information has been handled, please tell us in writing using the details below. We will listen, look into your concern and explain what happens next. Making a privacy complaint will not affect the care you receive.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can raise it with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): oaic.gov.au or 1300 363 992.
Updates to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always on this page. If you would like a printed copy or a copy in another format, please ask us. Last updated: September 2026.
How to Reach Us
If you have any questions about this policy or how your information is handled, please call or email our Privacy Officer:
WattleCare Services
Phone: 1300 280 062
Email: admin@wattlecare.com.au
Address: 27 Marshall Street, Goondiwindi QLD 4390
Legal Entity
WattleCare Services Pty Ltd, ABN 59 686 035 665
