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Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Privacy Policy Published (19th Sept 2022); Terms of Use Published (29th May 2022);

The National Placement Evaluation Centre (NPEC)

Terms of Use

These Terms of Use apply to the use of:

  • this website (Website); and
  • the NPEC tools, resources, apps, registers, data, reports and all other functionality available on this website (NPEC Resources).

Use of some of the NPEC Resources may also require you to agree to additional terms or provide a more specific informed consent.

In these Terms of Use, ‘HESA’ refers to Health Education Services Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 32 628 996 181) as the owner of the Website and the NPEC Resources, and the terms ‘you’ and ‘your’ refer to each user or viewer of the Website and/or the NPEC Resources.

1. Acceptance of the Terms of Use

By accessing or using the Website or the NPEC Resources, you are deemed to accept these Terms of Use which, together with our Privacy Statement, governs HESA’s relationship with you in relation to the Website and NPEC Resources.

HESA may change the Terms of Use at our discretion. If we do so, we shall notify you of these changes within 20 Business Days. By continuing to use the Website and the NPEC Resources, you accept the Terms of Use as they apply from time to time. It is intended that these Terms of Use are legally binding on you and HESA. Your use of the Website and the NPEC Resources, and any dispute arising out of such use, is subject to the laws of the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

2. Disclaimer of warranties

While the information and material available on the Website and the NPEC Resources is subject to quality assurances processes, it is also subject to continuing research, clinical experience, reasonable differences in opinions among authorities, unique aspects of individual situations and the possibility of human error in preparing the material. No representation or warranty (express or implied), except as required by law, is made as to the currency, completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability and / or availability of the material.

The NPEC Resources are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility and accuracy.

There is no warranty that access to the Website or NPEC Resources will be uninterrupted or error free.

HESA reserves the right to and may at any time and without notice or any liability to you, modify or discontinue the Website and/or the NPEC Resources.

3. Disclaimer of liability

You acknowledge that your use of any information or materials on the Website and in the NPEC Resources is entirely at your own risk and that the information or material may contain inaccuracies or errors.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, HESA expressly disclaims all liability (including for negligence) for any loss, damage, expense and costs incurred by any person arising out of accessing, downloading, using or relying on any of the Website or the NPEC Resources, including but not limited to:

  • use of the Website or the NPEC Resources for a purpose for which it was not intended;
  • any errors or omissions in the Website or the NPEC Resources;
  • any inaccuracy in the information or materials; or
  • any interpretations or opinions stated in, or which may be inferred from, the Website or the NPEC Resources.

To the full extent permitted by law, HESA, and its staff, agents and contractors have no liability for claims by, or loss, injury, cost expense or damages of any kind whatsoever to a user of the Website or the NPEC Resources, or any other person arising in connection with the Website or the NPEC Resources or any decision or action taken in reliance on the performance of the Website or the NPEC Resources. Excluded damages include, without limitation, direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages.

4. Copyright and trademarks

All intellectual property rights in the Website content and the NPEC Resources, including (without limitation) text, graphics, all software, information architecture and coding and materials, is owned by HESA or licensed to us.  The Website and the NPEC Resources contain trademarks owned by HESA and third parties. You may not display or use in any manner any trademarks featured on the Website or the NPEC Resources without the prior written permission of the trademark owner.

You may:

  • access, use and download material from the Website content and NPEC Resources as available in accordance with the functionality of the Website and NPEC Resources for your own use only; and
  • use any reports or data sets generated from the available functionality of the NPEC Resources, in accordance with the terms of the following licence:

HESA grants you a non-exclusive, revocable, non-transferable, royalty-free license to use reports and data sets generated from the available functionality of the NPEC Resources for:

a)

your own internal purposes, including internal quality assurance and continuous improvement activities (subject to compliance with the Privacy Act to the extent that the data includes any personal information);

b)

the preparation and publication of articles, reports or studies (with any personal information de-identified) in relation to the NPEC and clinical placements, subject to HESA’s prior approval (which may be sought at [email protected]); and

c)

any other purposes approved by HESA in advance (which may be sought at [email protected]),

and provided that you:

d)

may not commercialise or sub-licence any intellectual property rights in the reports and data sets;

e)

comply with any additional restrictions communicated by HESA to you in relation to particular reports or data; and

f)

include the following attribution statement in any published works:

“I/we acknowledge the work of the Australian National Placement Evaluation Centre (NPEC), owned by Health Education Services Australia.”

The intellectual property rights in any information or data that you contribute to the Website, or through the NPEC Resources, will vest in HESA as the owner.

5. Links to other websites and third party resources

The Website and NPEC Resources contain links to other websites and third-party resources. These links are provided for your convenience only and HESA has no responsibility for the content of the linked websites or resources. Views or recommendations provided in linked websites or resources do not necessarily reflect those of HESA.

It is your responsibility to make your own decisions about the currency, completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability of information contained in linked websites or resources.

6. Additional requirements for use of the NPEC Resources

Without limiting any other clause of these Terms of Use, if you are a registered user of the NPEC Resources, or otherwise access or use the NPEC Resources, you must:

  • only use the NPEC Resources for your own lawful purposes, in accordance with these Terms of Use as amended from time to time;
  • ensure that your provision of any information or data to the Website, or through the NPEC Resources, is done in a professional manner and as accurately as possible, and does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party;
  • not attempt to undermine the security, integrity or functionality of the NPEC Resources; and
  • exercise all reasonable efforts to not transmit any harmful code or malware into the Website or NPEC Resources.

You remain solely responsible for complying with all applicable laws in connection to your use of the Website and the NPEC Resources.

7. Use of log-in and your confidentiality obligations

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account password and are responsible for all uses via your registration and/or login whether authorised or unauthorised by you. You must inform us of any unauthorised use of your account. You can use the Contact Us form to inform us.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any data, information or resources that you download from the Website or NPEC Resources onto your computer.

8. Security, viruses, errors and availability

HESA stores your data in secure storage which conforms to Australian privacy requirements (see clauses 3.2, 3.4 and 3.5 of our Privacy Policy at section 10 of these Terms of Use for further detail). If your data is no longer required by HESA for the purposes for which it was collected and is no longer required by law to be retained, it will be securely destroyed or deidentified.

However, the internet is an insecure public network which means there are risks that material sent to or from the Website or the NPEC Resources may be intercepted, corrupted or modified by third parties. In addition, files obtained from or through the Website or the NPEC Resources may contain computer viruses, disabling codes, worms or other devices or defects that may be harmful or destructive.

You bear the risks and responsibility for any loss or damage caused, directly or indirectly, by these risks, and HESA accepts no liability for any interference with, or damage to, your computer system, software or data occurring in connection with your access of the Website or the NPEC Resources.

9. Feedback

You can use the Contact Us form to inform of us of any technical issues, feedback/comments or complaints regarding the Website or the NPEC Resources.

10. Privacy Policy Statement

Published (19th Sept 2022)

National Placement Evaluation Centre Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

1.1

The National Placement Evaluation Centre (NPEC) measures and enhances the quality of nursing and midwifery clinical placements through rigorous evaluation and quality improvement processes, including by collecting information, and maintaining a central data repository, regarding student clinical placements of nursing and midwifery students. The NPEC Website and Resources are owned by Health Education Services Australia (HESA) which provides services to advance professional health education and training in Australia and overseas.

1.2

This privacy policy has been prepared in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act), the Australian Privacy Principles (as set out at Schedule 1 to the Privacy Act), and the Office of the Australian Information Commission (OAIC) Guide to developing an APP privacy policy (May 2014). In particular, this privacy policy complies with HESA’s obligation under APP 1.3 to have a clearly expressed and up‑to‑date policy about HESA’s management of ‘personal information’.

1.3

This privacy policy addresses HESA’s management of personal information through its operation of the NPEC. Further information about HESA’s management of personal information in relation to its other activities can be found on the HESA website.

1.4

‘Personal information’ is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

(a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

(b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

1.5

HESA’s obligations under the Privacy Act also apply to ‘sensitive information’, which is:

(a) information or an opinion about an individual’s:

(i) racial or ethnic origin; or

(ii) political opinions; or.

(iii) membership of a political association; or

(iv) religious beliefs or affiliations; or

(v) philosophical beliefs; or

(vi) membership of a professional or trade association; or

(vii) membership of a trade union; or

(viii) sexual orientation or practices; or

(ix) criminal record;

that is also personal information; or

(b) health information about an individual; or

(c) genetic information about an individual that is not otherwise health information; or

(d) biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification; or

(e) biometric templates.

1.6

As required by APP 1.4, this privacy policy contains the following:

(a) the kinds of personal information that HESA collects and holds in the course of operating the NPEC;

(b) how HESA collects and holds personal information through the NPEC;

(c) the purposes for which HESA collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information through the NPEC;

(d) how an individual may access personal information about the individual that is held by HESA and seek the correction of such information; and

(e) how an individual may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how HESA will deal with such a complaint.

2. Personal information that HESA collects and holds through the NPEC

2.1

Clinical placement rating tools

(a) The NPEC maintains tools and resources (NPEC Resources)that allow students and supervisors to provide feedback on clinical placements. When individuals use NPEC Resources, HESA may collect the following personal information:

(i) Age;

(ii) Descriptions of university/organisational enrolment or affiliation; and

(iii) Other educational details including degree and current year of enrolment and specialty or field of enrolment.

(b) Through the NPEC’s clinical evaluation activities, HESA may also receive, sensitive information, including the nationality, race or ethnic origin of individuals.

(c) Information may be collected through the NPEC in relation to its evaluation activities by the receipt of completed evaluation forms and online tools, by email, and via the NPEC website.

2.2

Handling complaints

(a) The NPEC at times receives complaints and operates a complaints handling scheme to manage any complaints that are made. A complaint may be made anonymously. However, if the identity of the complainant is revealed by a complaint to the NPEC, HESA may collect the following personal information in handling the complaint:

(i) Name;

(ii) Email address;

(iii) Postal address; and

(iv) Telephone number.

2.3

Personnel records

(a) HESA collects personal information of employees and contractors, including:

(i) Name;

(ii) Date of birth;

(iii) Address;

(iv) Telephone numbers;

(v) Tax file number;

(vi) Education and training qualifications;

(vii) Bank account details;

(viii) Salary and other financial information.

(b) HESA also collects sensitive information that includes:

(i) Memberships of professional and trade organisations;

(ii) Memberships of trade unions; and

(iii) Health information.

2.4

NPEC website

(a) The NPEC website invites an individual to submit questions, inquiries, and commendations.

(b) If an individual submits a question, inquiry or commendation through the NPEC website, HESA may collect personal information that includes:

(i) Name;

(ii) Title;

(iii) Email address;

(vi) Telephone number;

(v) Postal address;

(c) Information is collected when a person visits the NPEC website, including through the use of ‘cookies’. The information collected includes:

(i) The IP address of the person;

(ii) The time of the visit; and

(iii) The pages on the website that are visited.

2.5

Marketing

(a) HESA will not use personal information for marketing purposes.

3. How HESA collects and holds personal information through the NPEC

3.1

HESA will usually collect personal information directly from the individual to whom the information relates. However, HESA may also collect personal information from third parties, including in the following circumstances:

(a) Personal information that is provided by a respondent using a placement evaluation tool or other NPEC Resource, where, for instance, the personal information relates to a supervisor, colleague or patient of the respondent; and

(b) Personal information that is provided by institutions for the purposes of clinical and educational enhancement.

3.2

We take reasonable precautions and follow industry best practices to protect your personal information from being inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

3.3

If we receive unsolicited personal and sensitive information, we will:

(a) within a reasonable period after receiving the information, determine whether we could have collected the information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, and specifically APP 3, and

(b) if we discover that it could not have been collected in accordance APP 3, we may destroy it or ensure that it is de-identified if it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

3.4

We use a database management system to store personal information that contains security features such as encryption, firewall and anti-virus, to ensure the protection and integrity of our data.

3.5

All email data is stored securely on a server that is password protected and only accessible by authorised personnel.

3.6

In circumstances where:

(a) We suspect or are aware that data relating to your personal information has been lost, disclosed without authorisation, or breached by a third party, and

(b) that loss, disclosure or unauthorised access causes or is likely to cause serious harm to you or another person, and

(c) the harm that may occur is not able to be prevented by HESA; we will fully comply with the applicable provisions of the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme.

3.6

If a notifiable breach occurs, we will notify you, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and other persons affected with:

(a) a description of the breach and how it occurred

(b) the kinds of information that were compromised in the breach, and

(c) the steps that should be taken to mitigate the harm caused by the breach.

4. The purposes for which HESA collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information through the NPEC

4.1

HESA will only use the personal information it collects for the purpose (the primary purpose) for which it was collected, or for a secondary purpose if permitted by the Privacy Act.

4.2

HESA may disclose personal information that it holds where the disclosure is consistent with the primary purpose for which the information was collected. HESA may, at times, also disclose personal information for a secondary purpose (as permitted by the Privacy Act).

5. Access to and correction of personal information held by HESA

5.1

You may request access to your personal information that we hold, and we will:

(a) verify your identity;

(b) charge you to cover the cost of meeting your request, if any, but not for the request itself; and

(c) within a reasonable period, comply with your request.

5.2

We may refuse to allow you to access your personal information if we are not required to do so under the Privacy Act, and particularly in circumstances where:

(a) providing access would pose a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual,

(b) providing access would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of other individuals,

(c) the request for access is frivolous or vexatious;

(d) the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between you and us, and the information would not be accessible by the process of discovery in those proceedings (i.e. through court order or subpoena);

(e) providing access to the information would be unlawful;

(f) denying access is required or authorised by law;

(g) providing access would be likely to prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity; or

(h) otherwise in accordance with the Privacy Act.

5.3

You may request to correct your personal information that we hold, and we will update your personal and sensitive information so that it is up-to-date, accurate, complete, relevant and not misleading.

5.4

If you would like to access or correct your personal information, please contact us at https://npec.com.au/contact-us/ or at [email protected].

6. Complaints

5.3

(a) If you believe we breached the APPs under the Privacy Act, a registered Australian Privacy Principles Code or the National Law, you may lodge a complaint as follows:

(i) firstly, contact us in writing to the email or website in clause 5.4 and include the following in your complaint:

(A) your contact details;

(B) section or provision of the APPs or Code that you believe we breached; and

(ii) our practice or policy that you believe breaches the relevant APP or Code, and you must allow us a reasonable time, about 30 days, to reply to your complaint; and

(b) secondly, you may complain to the National Health Practitioner Privacy Commissioner if:

(i) you are not satisfied with our response; or

(ii) we do not respond to you within a reasonable time without enough explanation.