Privacy policy

Depending on how you contact us or use our services, we may collect:

• your name, phone number and email address;
• your health information, such as your medical history, medicines, allergies, pregnancy or breastfeeding, recent skin treatments and any previous reactions;
• your consent, assessment and treatment notes, and the aftercare information you were given;
• clinical photographs, only with your consent;
• appointment and payment records, such as what was booked, when, and what was paid;
• anything you tell us by phone, text, email, our contact form or a social media message;
• general information about how you use this website.

You don't have to give us your name to ask a general question. To book an appointment or receive care, we need to know who you are.

Link to this section: The information we collect

Most of the information we hold comes straight from you:

• when you book online through Timely, our booking system;
• when you call, text or email the clinic, or message us through our contact form or social media;
• at your appointments, when your nurse asks about your health and records your assessment, consent and treatment;
• automatically, through cookies, when you use this website.

Sometimes it comes from another health practitioner involved in your care, such as your GP, when you've agreed to it.

Link to this section: How we collect it

We use your information to:

• assess whether a treatment is suitable for you and explain its risks, plan your care and record what was done;
• contact you about your appointments and your aftercare;
• answer your questions and messages;
• take payments and keep business records;
• meet our legal and professional obligations as a health service;
• understand how this website is used, so we can improve it.

We use your health information to provide your care. We may also use it for a directly related purpose you would reasonably expect. Any other use needs your consent, unless the law requires or allows it.

We'll only send you news or marketing messages if you've agreed to receive them, and you can opt out at any time.

Link to this section: Why we collect and use it

Inside the clinic, only the people involved in your care and in running your appointments can see your information. Outside the clinic, we share it only in the ways listed below, with your consent, or when the law requires or allows it, for example in an emergency.

We may share it with:

• another health practitioner involved in your care, such as a medical practitioner who also assesses you, in person or by video consultation, before some treatments;
• your GP or another provider, when you ask us to or agree to it;
• the services that help us run the clinic and this website, such as Timely for online booking, Google for email and website analytics, and our website host and its security services;
• a regulator, court or other body, if the law requires or allows it.

The services we use also have their own privacy policies, which explain how they handle information.

Link to this section: Who we share it with

Some of the services we use, including online booking, email and website analytics, are run by companies that may store or process information outside Australia.

Where that happens, we remain responsible for how your information is handled under the Australian Privacy Principles. If you'd like to know where a particular service holds information, please ask us.

Link to this section: Information held outside Australia

Your health records are kept in a secure clinical system with limited access.

Online booking details are held in Timely. Messages sent through our contact form go to the clinic's email; the website does not keep a copy.

We keep client records for at least seven years. After that, when records are no longer needed, they are disposed of securely, in line with our legal obligations.

No system is completely secure. If you think your information has been misused or exposed, please tell us straight away.

Link to this section: How we store and protect it

Clinical photographs can be a useful part of your health record. They are only taken with your consent and for an agreed purpose, and you can decline without it affecting your care.

Your photos are stored and protected like the rest of your record. They aren't used for anything else, such as marketing, unless you give separate written consent for that specific use. You can withdraw that consent at any time, and you can ask how an image will be used.

Link to this section: Clinical photographs

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to see how people use this website. It uses cookies, which are small files saved by your browser. They record things like the pages you visit, how long you stay, your device and browser, your approximate location (such as your city) and how you found the site.

We don't send your name, contact details or anything you tell us about your health to Google Analytics. It does record the pages you visit, which can include pages about our treatments. This information is handled under Google's privacy policy (opens in a new tab).

Your choices

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on (opens in a new tab). Blocking analytics cookies won't stop you using this website. Google also explains how it uses information from sites that use its services (opens in a new tab).

Our website host and its security services may also use small technical cookies to keep the site working and protected.

Our contact form

The contact form asks for your name, email address, phone number and message, and we use them to reply to you. Please don't send photos or detailed health information through the form. We'll go through your health history with you at your appointment.

Online booking

When you book online, you use Timely's booking website. The details you enter there are shared with us so we can manage your appointment. Timely's own privacy policy, on its website, explains how it handles them.

Maps and social media

On our contact page, the map loads from Google only if you choose to show it, and directions links open Google Maps. If you follow or message us on social media, that platform handles your information under its own privacy policy.

Link to this section: Cookies, analytics and this website

You can ask to see the personal and health information we hold about you, or ask us to correct anything that's inaccurate, out of date or incomplete.

To ask, email info@heartaestheticshobart.com.au, call 0404 606 669 or talk to your nurse. There's no charge to make a request. To protect your privacy, we may need to confirm who you are first.

We'll respond within a reasonable time. If we can't give you access or make a change you've asked for, we'll explain why in writing and tell you how to raise a concern.

Please let us know if your contact details or health information change, so your records stay accurate.

Link to this section: Seeing and correcting your information

If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm to anyone whose information we hold, we'll tell the people affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.

We'll explain what happened and the steps you can take to protect yourself.

Link to this section: If there's a data breach

If you have a question about your privacy, or you think we've mishandled your information, please tell us first so we can look into it. You can:

• email info@heartaestheticshobart.com.au;
• call 0404 606 669;
• talk to your nurse at your next appointment.

We'll review what you've told us and respond within 10 business days. Raising a concern will never affect the care you receive.

If you're not satisfied with our response, or you haven't heard back within 30 days, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (opens in a new tab) (OAIC). Complaints to the OAIC must be made in writing, such as through its online form. For general guidance, you can call its enquiries line on 1300 363 992.

For feedback about your care, bookings or fees, see our clinic policies.

Link to this section: Privacy questions and complaints

We review this policy from time to time and update it when the way we handle information changes. The latest version is always on this page, with the date it was last reviewed.

If you'd like a printed copy, or this policy in another format, just ask.

Link to this section: Changes to this policy