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Privacy Policy

We recognise that your privacy is important to you and we are committed to protecting the personal information we collect about you. Within New Zealand, the Privacy Act 1993 (New Zealand) (Privacy Act) and the National Privacy Principles which form part of the Privacy Act govern the way in which we manage your personal information and this policy sets out how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise manage personal information about you. We invite you to check our website regularly for any updates to this privacy policy.
 

General privacy statement

You may visit the West Otago Health website without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. However West Otago Health does give you the opportunity to provide to us some of your personal contact information in order to receive information from West Otago Health and its properties. This information includes your name, email address and country of residence. We will only use this information for the purposes described in this policy statement.

Types of information collected

We may collect and hold personal information about you, that is, information that can identify you, such as your name, address, contact details and other information relevant to providing you with the services you are seeking, or someone else you know is seeking.
 

Purposes of collection

Generally, we will collect and use your personal information for one or more of the following reasons:

  • providing information and services to you or someone else you know;

  • processing an application you have made;

  • undertaking various activities required by law;

  • providing you with information about other services that may be of interest to you that we and other organisations that we have affiliations with may offer;

  • providing you with promotional information about us and other organisations that we have affiliations with;

  • facilitating our internal business operations, including the fulfilment of any legal requirements; and analysing our services and customer needs with a view to developing new and/or improved services.
     

Methods of collection

Personal information will generally be collected directly from you through the use of any of our standard forms, over the internet, via email or through a meeting or telephone conversation with you. There may, however, be some instances where personal information about you will be collected indirectly because it is impractical to collect personal information directly from you. We may obtain personal information about you from other organisations with which we have affiliations, where the transfer of your information to us is legal and in keeping with this privacy policy.

Failure to provide information

If the personal information you provide to us is incomplete and/or inaccurate, we may be unable to provide you, or someone else you know, with the services you or they are seeking.
 

Internet users

If you access our website, we may collect information about your connection session in the form of your IP (Internet Protocol) address and domain name. Also, our website may from time to time use cookies. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and to prepare customised web pages for them. Cookies do not contain personal information per se, but they may link back to a database record about you. We may use cookies to monitor usage of our website and to create a record of when you visit our website and what pages you view so that we may serve you more effectively. No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect server logs. The statistics and log files may be preserved indefinitely and used at any time and in any way necessary to prevent security breaches and to ensure the integrity of the information supplied by West Otago Health. Your personal information will not be released unless the law permits it or your permission is granted.
 

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of linked websites and so linked websites are not subject to our privacy policies and procedures. Please note that this practice is contributing to, and accessing healthcare information from HealthOne.

 

What is HealthOne?

HealthOne is a South Island based secure electronic record that allows registered healthcare providers directly involved in your healthcare, to quickly access information such as your test results, allergies, medications, GP summaries and hospital information. HealthOne adheres to the principles of the Privacy Act 2020 as well as the Rules set out in the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. Access is only possible via an approved highly secure healthcare information network which is regularly audited and tested. Privacy auditing is used to check that only those directly involved in your care are accessing your information. 

 

To find out more about HealthOne please visit https://healthone.org.nz/. 

Please note that you are entitled to restrict the sharing of your healthcare records by contacting 0508 837 872 or emailing HealthOne.privacy@pegasus.health.nz”
 

Use and disclosure

Generally, we use and disclose personal information about you for the purposes for which it was collected. We may also disclose personal information about you to:

  • service providers who assist us in operating our business. These service providers may not be required to comply with our privacy policy;

  • other service providers who provide the various services that you have requested and we have arranged. These service providers may not be required to comply with our privacy policy;

  • other organisations that we have affiliations with for the purposes of providing you with information about services and various promotions that might be of interest to you.
     

Storage of your personal information

We will store your personal information for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. We will actively review the personal data we store and delete it securely, or in some cases anonymise it, when there is no longer a legal, business or consumer need for it to be retained.

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Security

We store your personal information in different ways, including on paper and in electronic form. We take commercially reasonable measures to ensure that your personal information is stored safely to protect it from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These may include both electronic and physical security measures.

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Access

You may be entitled to access the personal information we hold about you, upon making a written request. We will endeavour to provide you with access to the personal information requested within 30 days. We may charge you a reasonable fee for processing your request. We may decline a request for access to personal information where the Privacy Act requires us to do so. If, upon receiving access to your personal information or at any other time, you believe the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please notify us immediately. We will take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up to date.

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Feedback

If you have any queries about our privacy policy or the way in which we handle your personal information, please contact us:

General Manager
wohealth@wohealth.co.nz

50 Raes Junction Highway, Tapanui 9587

PO Box 50, Tapanui 9542

 

More information

To read to latest privacy policy administered by the Ministry of Justice, or for more information about privacy in general, you can visit the Office of the New Zealand Government website at https://www.digital.govt.nz/
This privacy policy was last updated on 30 November 2024 and may change from time to time.

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