Privacy Policy

Effective date:17/6/2026

Westcoast Chiropractic Centre

22 Washington St, Port Lincoln SA 5606

Phone: 08 8682 3708

Email: reception@westcoastchiro.com.au

Westcoast Chiropractic Centre is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information in an open and transparent way. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information, how you may access and correct your personal information, how to make a privacy complaint, and how we manage personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

1. Who we are

Westcoast Chiropractic Centre provides chiropractic and related healthcare services. In the course of providing these services, we may collect and hold personal information, including health information, about patients, prospective patients, website users, suppliers, and other individuals we deal with.

2. What kinds of personal information we collect and hold

The kinds of personal information we may collect and hold include:

Identity and contact details, such as your full name, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth, and emergency contact details.
Health information, including medical history, symptoms, diagnoses, treatment notes, referrals, imaging or test results, medications, allergies, and other information relevant to your care.
Appointment and service information, including booking details, attendance history, practitioner notes, and communications about your care.
Billing and payment information, including invoices, payment history, private health fund details, Medicare-related information if applicable, and other account details required for payment processing.
Website and enquiry information, including information you provide through online forms, email enquiries, or other website interactions.
Employment or contractor information, where relevant, such as information collected from job applicants, contractors, or service providers.

Where lawful and reasonable, we will only collect personal information that is necessary for our functions and activities.

3. How we collect personal information

We may collect personal information in a number of ways, including when you:

contact us by phone, email, in person, or through our website;
make an appointment or attend a consultation;
complete a patient registration form, intake form, medical history form, or other practice document;
provide information during the course of treatment;
make a payment or submit private health fund or other claim details;
apply for employment or provide services to us; or
otherwise communicate with us.

We may also collect personal information from third parties where reasonably necessary and permitted by law, including:

from a parent or guardian;
from another healthcare provider, specialist, or referrer;
from Medicare, private health insurers, or other health funding bodies;
from someone authorised to act on your behalf; or
from publicly available sources where relevant to our functions.

Where practical, we will collect personal information directly from you.

4. Where and how we store personal information

We may store personal information in:

paper records, such as patient files, forms, and written notes kept securely at our practice;
electronic records, such as practice management software, email systems, accounting systems, and secure digital storage platforms; and
backup and archival systems used for business continuity and record retention.

Personal information may be held at our premises and by third-party service providers that assist us with practice management, IT support, cloud storage, website hosting, email, accounting, payment processing, and related administrative functions.

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps may include physical security, password protection, access controls, secure systems, staff training, and confidentiality obligations.

5. Why we collect personal information

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information where it is reasonably necessary for our functions and activities, including to:

provide chiropractic care and related health services;
assess, diagnose, treat and manage your health needs;
maintain accurate clinical records;
book and manage appointments;
communicate with you about your care, appointments, accounts, or other relevant matters;
process payments and manage billing;
liaise with other healthcare providers involved in your care;
comply with legal, regulatory, insurance, and professional obligations;
manage and improve our business operations, website, and services; and
respond to enquiries, complaints, or requests.

If you do not provide requested personal information, we may not be able to provide you with some or all of our services.

6. How we use and disclose personal information

We may use and disclose personal information for the primary purpose for which it was collected, and for related purposes you would reasonably expect, including:

providing healthcare services and treatment;
maintaining patient records;
contacting you about appointments, follow-up care, and administrative matters;
processing payments and claims;
communicating with referring practitioners, specialists, allied health professionals, or other healthcare providers involved in your care;
obtaining administrative, legal, accounting, IT, or practice support services;
complying with laws, regulations, court orders, subpoenas, and professional requirements; and
managing risks, complaints, incidents, and quality assurance.

We may disclose personal information to:

healthcare providers involved in your treatment or care;
Medicare, private health funds, insurers, or compensation bodies where relevant;
external service providers, such as IT providers, software vendors, cloud hosting providers, website hosts, payment processors, and accountants;
legal or professional advisers;
regulators, government agencies, courts, tribunals, or law enforcement bodies where required or authorised by law; and
other persons where you have consented or where disclosure is otherwise permitted by law.

We do not sell personal information.

7. Overseas disclosure of personal information

Some of the third-party service providers we use for email, cloud storage, software hosting, website hosting, data backup, or other administrative functions may store or process personal information outside Australia.

As a result, personal information may be disclosed to overseas recipients in countries where those service providers maintain servers, support operations, or related infrastructure. Where practical, those countries may include:

United States
Singapore
New Zealand
Member states of the European Union
other countries in which our service providers or their subcontractors operate from time to time

It is not always practicable to identify in advance every country in which such recipients may be located, particularly where cloud service providers use geographically distributed infrastructure.

Where we disclose personal information overseas, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient handles the information in a manner consistent with applicable privacy obligations.

8. Access to and correction of personal information

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and you may request correction of personal information if you believe it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant, or misleading.

Requests for access or correction should be made in writing using the contact details in this policy. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.

We will respond within a reasonable time. In some circumstances, access may be refused or limited where permitted by law. If that occurs, we will provide written reasons for the refusal and information about available complaint options, unless it would be unreasonable to do so.

9. How to make a privacy complaint

If you believe we have mishandled your personal information, you may make a complaint by contacting us using the details below:

Westcoast Chiropractic Centre
22 Washington St, Port Lincoln SA 5606
Phone: 08 8682 3708
Email: reception@westcoastchiro.com.au

Please include enough detail about the complaint so we can understand and investigate the issue.

We will manage privacy complaints by:

acknowledging receipt of the complaint within a reasonable time;
reviewing the complaint and, if necessary, seeking further information from you;
investigating the relevant facts and circumstances;
determining what action, if any, is appropriate; and
notifying you of the outcome within a reasonable time.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

10. Security, destruction and de-identification

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information throughout its lifecycle.

When personal information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, and we are not required by law or professional obligations to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to:

securely destroy the information; or
permanently de-identify the information.

This may include secure shredding of paper records, secure deletion of electronic files, destruction of storage media, or irreversible de-identification of data.

Where records must be retained to comply with legal, medical, insurance, taxation, or professional record-keeping obligations, they will continue to be stored securely until the retention period expires.

11. Website and electronic communications

If you use our website, we may collect limited technical information such as IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and time spent on the website. This information may be collected using cookies or similar technologies and may be used for website administration, security, analytics, and service improvement.

If you contact us by email or through our website, the information you provide may be stored in our email or website systems and used to respond to your enquiry or manage our services.

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our legal obligations, business practices, technology, or services. The current version will be made available through our website and at our practice.

Shorter version for a website footer page

If you want a more compact public version, this is a tighter opening summary:

Westcoast Chiropractic Centre collects personal information, including health information, to provide chiropractic care, manage appointments, maintain clinical records, process payments, communicate with patients, and meet legal and professional obligations. We may collect this information directly from you or, where permitted, from other healthcare providers, insurers, or authorised representatives. Information may be stored in paper and electronic systems, including systems provided by third-party service providers, some of which may be located outside Australia. You may request access to or correction of your personal information, and you may make a privacy complaint by contacting reception@westcoastchiro.com.au or 08 8682 3708. We take reasonable steps to protect personal information and to securely destroy or de-identify it when it is no longer required, subject to legal retention obligations.

Practical note

The overseas disclosure section is the part most worth tailoring before publishing. If Westcoast Chiropractic Centre knows which software it uses for practice management, email, cloud backup, forms, or website hosting, that section should name the actual countries used by those providers rather than keeping the broader list above.