Please read to the end of this policy and click the button if you wish to agree to the terms below and continue to the Franchise page
Your privacy is important to us…
Medpods Franchisor Pty Ltd, Medpods Master Pty Ltd, (“Medpods”) in Australia and New Zealand and their related bodies corporate are committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information, including visitors to our websites. This policy outlines how we collect personal information and how we maintain, use, store and disclose the personal information we hold.
Medpods is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (“APP”) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended) in Australia (“Australian Privacy Act”); by the Information Privacy Principles (“IPP”) contained in the Privacy Act 2020 in New Zealand (“New Zealand Privacy Act”) and by the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016.679 (“GDPR”) in both Australia and New Zealand. Unless specified otherwise, a reference to ‘Privacy Act’ in this privacy policy is a reference to the respective Privacy Act in each of Australia and New Zealand. It is Medpods’ policy to respect the confidentiality of information and the privacy of individuals.
Medpods’ privacy policy will be reviewed and updated from time to time to ensure new laws and technology, changes to our operations and practices are reflected in the policy and it remains up to date in our changing business environment. The updated version of our privacy policy will take effect immediately upon publication (or, if applicable, on the date specified in the updated policy) Please regularly check our privacy policy so that you are aware of these updates and changes. If the changes are material, we may also take additional steps to bring the changes to your attention, as required by law, including by notifying you directly. All information we hold will be governed by the most current version of the Medpods privacy policy.
Medpods’ privacy policy is based on being open transparent at all times about how we manage personal information.
What is personal information?
Personal information is any information or an opinion (whether true or not) about an identifiable individual. It includes, for example, the opinions of others about an individual’s work performance (whether true or not), work experience and qualifications, aptitude test results and other information obtained by us in connection with a franchise application.
What is sensitive information? (Australia Only)
Sensitive information is a special category of personal information in Australia. It includes information or an opinion about an individual’s: racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association or membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record that in all cases is also personal information, biometric information, and health information about an individual (including information or an opinion about the health, including any illness, disability or injury (at any time) of an individual. The Australian Privacy Act protects the collection, use and disclosure of sensitive information. Where we require this information we will ask for your consent, unless otherwise allowed by the Australian Privacy Act.
Who will be collecting your personal Information?
Medpods will collect your personal information, for our own use and on behalf of other members of Medpods who might require access to your personal information in connection with your franchise application.
The other members of Medpods are its related bodies corporate. Medpods will use your personal information, including any sensitive information, and disclose this to other members of Medpods in Australia or New Zealand in connection with your franchise application.
How will your information be collected?
Personal information will be collected about you when we receive:
- a completed franchise application form or any other information in connection with your application to us.
- Any reference about you;
- Results of inquires that we might make of your former; employees, work colleagues, professional associations or registration body;
- The results of any competency or medical test or background check;
- Performance feedback about you;
- Financial information pertaining to you;
- Any complaint from or about you in the workplace;
- Any information on a workplace accident in which you are involved;
- Information about any insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you are involved;
- Any additional information about you that you provide us with.
What types of personal information do we collect?
The types of personal information we may collect includes:
- Name;
- Address;
- Email address;
- Telephone number;
- Employment and business information;
- Government identifiers;
- Other employee contact information.
What general information do we collect from visitors to our websites?
We gather information about all of our website users collectively, such as what areas users visit more frequently and what services users access the most. We only use such data anonymously and in the aggregate. This information helps us determine what is most beneficial for our users, and how we can continually create a better overall website experience for you.
The Medpods websites include www.medpods.com.au
What will we use your personal information for?
Your personal information will be used in connection with:
- your actual and possible franchise purchase or sale;
- our assessment of your ongoing performance and prospects;
- any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo;
- our identification of your training needs;
- our management of any complaint, investigation or inquiry in which you are involved;
- any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal information; and
- undertaking criminal or other background reference checks.
We only collect and use sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary to perform one of the above Medpods Services.
If you do not give us the information we seek it may limit our ability to deal with you.
Who do we disclose your personal information to?
We may disclose your personal information for the purposes for which it is primarily held or for a related secondary purpose or as otherwise permitted by applicable law and in some cases, we may only disclose information with your consent. People which we may disclose your personal information to, include:
- Medpods franchisees whom are wanting to sell their franchise operation and trusted third parties;
- Referees;
- Medpods employees;
- Our insurers;
- A workers compensation body;
- Our contractors and suppliers – e.g. our IT contractors and database engineers; and
- Any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information (including where required or permitted by the Privacy Act (for either Australia or New Zealand) and GDPR).
If we disclose your personal information overseas, we will ensure that any such transfer of personal information will only be undertaken in compliance with applicable laws, including the relevant Privacy Acts.
We will not disclose sensitive information to third parties without your consent. We do not disclose information about your individual visits to the Medpods websites.
How do we manage personal information?
All Medpods staff are trained to understand their obligations in relation to the confidentiality of customer information and the privacy of individuals. Any breach of your privacy will be taken very seriously and may result in disciplinary action being taken, dependent upon the circumstances. Medpods has an appointed Privacy Officer, as listed in the Enquiries & Complaints section of this privacy policy, to ensure that our management of personal information is in accordance with this policy and the relevant Privacy Acts.
How do we store and protect personal information?
Safeguarding the privacy of your personal information is important to us, whether you interact with us personally, by phone, mail, over the internet or other electronic medium. We hold personal information in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper-based files and other records and take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may need to maintain records for a significant period of time. However, when we consider information is no longer needed, we will remove any details that will identify you or we will securely destroy the records.
We may also store the personal information we collect with our ultimate holding company, Express Services, Inc in the United States in which case we confirm we will ensure they adhere to the same obligations that apply to us in this Privacy Policy.
How do we keep personal information accurate and up to date?
Medpods takes all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information it holds and discloses is accurate, up to date and complete. We understand that information changes frequently eg. changes of address. We generally update your personal information over the telephone. Please advise us when your personal details change.
Enquiries & Complaints
You can make enquiries, requests to access or correct your information, or complain about alleged breaches of the relevant Privacy Acts to our Privacy Officer:
Privacy Officer – Medpods Medical Centres
+61 437 881 534
[email protected]
Noosa Daintree, Sunshine Coast, Qld 4565
Complaints
We aim to acknowledge receipt of all complaints within 10 working days and aim to resolve all complaints within 30 working days. This may not be possible in all circumstances depending on the contents of the complaint. In this situation, we will respond to your complaint in a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint you may contact:
Australia
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2002
Telephone: 1300 363 992
New Zealand
You can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
Access
Subject to some exceptions that are set out in both the New Zealand Privacy Act and the IPPs, you can gain access to the personal information that we hold about you.
To make a request to access your personal information, you will need to complete an application form to verify your identity and specify what information you require. Please contact our Privacy Officer for an application form. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period after the request is made and provide access to the information in the manner requested, if it is reasonable and practicable to do so.
We may impose a moderate charge in providing access (provided always that you will be entitled to obtain a copy electronically at no charge). Our Privacy Officer will discuss this with you. You should also anticipate that it may take time to process your application for access as there may be a need to retrieve information from storage and review it in order to determine what information is relevant.
If we refuse to provide you with access to your personal information, we will notify you in writing of the reasons for the refusal and the process for escalation regarding this refusal.
Correction
You may request that we correct the personal information that we hold about you if you deem it to be inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant or misleading. We will take reasonable steps under the circumstances to correct the information.
If we refuse to correct your personal information, we will notify you in writing of the reasons detailing our refusal to correct the information and the process for escalation regarding this refusal. Should we refuse you may ask us to place with the information a statement that the information is inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant or misleading and we will take such reasonable steps under the circumstances to associate the statement with your information. If you wish to exercise your rights of correction you should contact our Privacy Officer for an application form. We will not charge you for making the request to correct your information or associating a statement.
Opting “In” or “Out”
By clicking “I Agree” or any other button indicating your acceptance of this privacy policy, you expressly consent to the collection and use of your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy, although your consent to this privacy policy does not alter the terms of any specific consent that you may, or may have, separately provided. If you would like to opt out of our collection and/or processing, please contact us as provided above and we will respond in accordance with applicable law.
You may choose not to provide or have us collect your personal information. This may prevent us, for example, from assessing your franchise application or otherwise conducting business with you. We will let you know if this is the case.
If you have received information from us, including marketing, that you did not opt in or out to receive, you should contact us using the contact details set out in the Enquiries and Complaints section of this privacy policy.
Cookies
We may use temporary (session) cookies or permanent cookies when you access our website or other online platforms and/or services. This allows us to recognise your browser and track the web pages you have visited. You can switch off cookies by adjusting the settings on your web browser.
Deletion of personal information
In the event that you decide that you no longer want us to hold your personal information, you may notify us in writing of your desire for us to delete your personal information on record. We will use our best endeavours and comply with all legal requirements within a reasonable timeframe to delete or de-identify your personal information, unless we are permitted or required by law or a court order to retain such information.
GDPR
If you are:
- A resident of the European Union accessing our website or online platforms or receiving our Services in Australia or New Zealand; or
- accessing our website or online platforms from within the European Union, then in addition to our obligations under the Privacy Act, Medpods is required to comply with the GDPR with respect to your personal information. Reference to personal information in this Privacy Policy is also a reference to Personal Data (as defined under the GDPR).
- Medpods takes the security and privacy of your personal information seriously and has prepared this privacy policy and taken measures to collect, process and hold all personal information in compliance with both the Privacy Act and GDPR regardless of the user. Therefore, no additional terms for GDPR users are required.
Last updated: 16 February2023
