Privacy

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Safeguarding the privacy of patient information

The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District is committed to safeguarding the privacy of patient information and has implemented measures to comply with its obligations under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIPA).

All staff working in the NSW public health system including doctors, nurses and others are bound by law, by Privacy Manual for Health Information and by the NSW Health Code of Conduct to maintain confidentiality of patient information.

We are committed to ensure our patients':

  • personal health information will be protected in accordance with the HRIPA
  • personal health information will be given to another person only if this is important for their health care or can be otherwise legally and ethically justified. You are entitled to access your own health records and have those records amended to correct inaccuracies provided it is both legal and practicable to do so, they will have the opportunity to obtain services anonymously (see Section 8 Anonymity (HPP 13))
  • comprehensive clinical information will be available to their health care providers to enable optimal care.

Privacy reviews, enquiries and complaints

If you believe a health service provider involved in your care has breached these regulations, you may wish to request an internal review of the incident. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the internal review, you may lodge an appeal with the Administrative Decisions Tribunal who will further investigate your complaint.

If you have a general privacy enquiry or complaint about any hospital or service ISLHD please contact:
Privacy Contact Officer
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
PO Box 239
PORT KEMBLA  NSW  2505

For further information about privacy inquiries or complaints:

ISLHD Privacy Management Annual Reports

2022-23
2021-22
2019-20
2018-19
2017-18
2016-17
2015-16

Function and performance of the islhd.health.nsw.gov.au platform

When you use the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) website, we collect information to improve the performance of the site and our services. These collection processes do not collect, store, use nor disclose any of your personal information. The data collected is restricted to authorised staff and is used to understand how people use the site and how we can improve the service.

This website uses Google Analytics to collect data about how users interact with islhd.health.nsw.gov.au. Google Analytics collects data, including the details of the links clicked, search terms, navigation details, browser type and other use details as listed above. The information collected during your website visit is aggregated to create reports that reveal patterns in web site usage that allow us to improve the website and our services for you.  

What information do we collect?

When you look at the pages on this website, information is automatically recorded that identifies, for each page accessed:

  • the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine which has accessed it; 
  • your top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .edu, .au, .uk etc.); 
  • the address of your server; 
  • the date and time of your visit to the site; 
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded; 
  • the previous site visited; and 
  • the type of browser and operating system you have used. 

Only sessional cookies are used from the ISLHD site to collect information. This information is not retained once the user session has ceased.

How do we use the information collected?

The information collected during each visit is aggregated with similar logged information and published in reports in order for ISLHD to identify patterns of usage of the site. This will assist us in improving the ISLHD site and the services it offers.

ISLHD will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1988.

What exceptions are there to this rule?

The ISLHD will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

  • unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published ISLHD pages; 
  • unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the ISLHD site; 
  • unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the ISLHD site by other sites; 
  • attempts to intercept messages of other users of the ISLHD site; 
  • communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups or which give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed; and 
  • attempts to otherwise compromise the security of the web server, breach the laws of the State of New South Wales or Commonwealth of Australia, or interfere with the enjoyment of the ISLHD site by other users. 
  • ISLHD reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of the ISLHD site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed. In the event of an investigation ISLHD will provide access to data to any law enforcement agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect our logs. 

Is the information stored securely?

Yes. Information collected is stored in an appropriately secure format and held by ISLHD for archival purposes. When the information is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected it is deleted.

Links to external sites

The ISLHD website contains links to other websites. We have no control over linked websites, and as a result, when you visit a linked website, you will be subject to the privacy policy of that website and will no longer be subject to this Privacy Statement.

Reporting security bugs or issues

We take the security of our customer data very seriously. If you have identified any issues or potential vulnerabilities with our website that might pose a risk to our services or the information trusted to us, then we encourage you to inform us as quickly as possible by emailing us at ISLHD-Website@health.nsw.gov.au.

What will we do with information provided in the feedback function?

ISLHD provides a feedback facility on this website to allow users to provide input into the future development of the site and to comment on the provision of service by ISLHD.

The provision of personal details on feedback is optional. Users may provide personal details for the purpose of receiving a reply to their feedback. This information will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. We will not add your email address or name to any mailing list. ISLHD may publish aggregated information about feedback on the site, to the extent that it does not identify or cannot be used to identify individual users.