Privacy Policy

The RCPA Quality Assurance Programs Pty Ltd, referred to hereafter as RCPAQAP, respects the rights of individuals to privacy and the confidentiality of information about individuals it deals with.

RCPAQAP undertakes to comply with this privacy policy and the Australian Privacy Principles (“Privacy Principles”) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) as amended by the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 (Cth).  The Privacy Principles are designed to protect individuals by regulating the way personal information is managed by certain private sector organisations, including RCPAQAP.

In summary, the Privacy Principles define “personal information” as information or an opinion relating to an identified individual or to an individual who is reasonably able to be identified.

If you have questions about RCPAQAP and privacy, wish to provide feedback on this policy, would like to update your personal details or wish to access personal information held by RCPAQAP about you, please contact the RCPAQAP Privacy Officer using the contact details on this website. 

RCPAQAP Services

The RCPAQAP is a stand-alone independent company that:

  • Provides External Quality Assurance Programs to diagnostic laboratories in various pathology specialities in order to help raise the quality of the participating laboratories.
  • Provides competency- based training and education via seminars, web-based programs and virtual microscopy.
  • Provides participating laboratories with advice on quality assurance issues.
  • Collaborates with NATA – Australia’s national laboratory accreditation body, the Australian Government Department of Health and various medical/ scientific professional associations in establishing policy and documentation for the quality provision of pathology services.

For what purposes does RCPAQAP collect personal information?

In accordance with the Privacy Principles, the primary purposes for which RCPAQAP collects and uses personal information include but are not limited to the following:

  • Supporting the production, supply and quality management of RCPAQAP services and products;
  • Administering and managing the provision of RCPAQAP services and products, including charging, billing, collecting debts and monitoring quality and performance;
  • Seeking feedback on ways to improve RCPAQAP services and products (including feedback by means of surveys and questionnaires);
  • Responding to queries and providing feedback to recipients of RCPAQAP services and products;
  • Marketing RCPAQAP activities, services and products (except where a potential recipient of marketing information has requested otherwise);
  • Managing and maintaining effective communication between RCPAQAP and participating laboratories and with its professional advisers and related scientific and professional communities;
  • Selecting and monitoring the performance of employees, other personnel, suppliers and contractors;
  • Monitoring and controlling the usage of RCPAQAP services, systems and facilities; and
  • Complying with ethical, legal and regulatory obligations. 

Who does RCPAQAP collect personal information from?

In conducting its routine business, RCPAQAP may collect personal information from the following types of individuals:

  • Authorised representatives;
  • Laboratory/facility contacts enrolling in programs;
  • Donors (patients with specific pathological diagnoses) of tissue and body fluids;
  • RCPAQAP advisory and committee members/technical advisers;
  • Board members and company directors;
  • NATA, DOH and professional body members;
  • Third party agents or distributors of RCPAQAP services and products;
  • Training course and seminar registrants;
  • Suppliers of services and products to RCPAQAP;
  • RCPAQAP employees and contractors;
  • General members of the public who voluntarily give such information.

If you choose not to provide personal information we may not be able to provide you with some services or to appoint you to a position (e.g. committee member) to which you have been nominated. 

What types of personal information are collected?

The types of personal information collected by RCPAQAP will vary depending on an individual’s relationship with RCPAQAP.

For clients and external collaborators, it may include the following:

  • Name; position; professional qualifications
  • Business address and contact details (including phone, fax, mobile, email)
  • Business ABN
  • Memberships of professional associations
  • Sales history
  • Credit references
  • Survey/questionnaire results
  • Records of complaints and enquiries
  • Key performance indicator metrics

For donors of body tissues and body fluids it may include the following:

  • Treating clinician’s name
  • Name
  • Address/phone number
  • DOB
  • Hospital accession (UR) number
  • Test results
  • Limited medical notes
  • Donor’s consent form

For employees, board members, contractors, directors, advisory/ technical committee members and providers of quality assurance materials, it may include the following:

  • Name
  • Address / phone number
  • Date of birth
  • Educational/employment history
  • Job performance metrics
  • Bank details and rates of pay
  • Tax file number
  • Next of kin
  • Signature
  • Curricula vitae
  • Confidentiality agreements
  • OHS, workers compensation and vaccination status
  • NATA accreditation status

This information is required to assist in the selection process for job suitability, for payment of wages, superannuation and taxes, and for workers compensation claims. Employee data may also be disclosed to third party certification bodies during audits for the purpose of validation of the quality management system.

How is personal information collected?

RCPAQAP may collect personal information in a number of ways including but not limited to:

  • Directly when information is provided in person, by telephone, email or in documents such as enrolment or application forms;
  • Questionnaires and surveys;
  • When the RCPAQAP website is used for enrolment, results entry and for general information content; and
  • From publicly available sources of information.

The RCPAQAP website offers a number of interactive facilities including search engines, enrolment, result entry as well as online enquiry forms. Other than from enrolment and enquiry forms, RCPAQAP generally does not capture any personal information that you may enter when using these tools. If you complete an online enrolment or enquiry form, we will only collect the information that you enter into the online form.

RCPAQAP may collect IP addresses for the purposes of systems administration and to audit the use of our site. We do not ordinarily link a user’s IP address to personally identifiable information. However, we may use IP addresses to identify users of our site when we feel it necessary to enforce compliance with the site’s terms of use, or to protect our service, site or other users.

Who is personal information disclosed to?

In summary, RCPAQAP may disclose personal information to:

  • Employees, other personnel, suppliers, contractors, and related parties (such as agents or subsidiaries) that require such information for the purpose of producing and supplying RCPAQAP services and products and for the other purposes listed above;
  • Government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, as required or authorised by law;
  • Accreditation bodies, quality systems auditors and other organisations with which RCPAQAP has a formal agreement or obligation potentially requiring the disclosure of some personal information as part of checking and verification of systems and processes;
  • Professional advisers including accountants, auditors, lawyers and consultants;
  • Credit providers; and
  • The Australian Taxation Office.

RCPAQAP does not sell or license personal information to third parties.

RCPAQAP generally requires third-party organisations that receive personal information from RCPAQAP or collect, handle or use personal information on behalf of RCPAQAP to acknowledge the confidentiality of such information, undertake to respect an individual’s right to information privacy and to comply with the Privacy Principles and this policy.  Except as otherwise prescribed by law, RCPAQAP does not accept responsibility for misuse of personal information by a third party.

Management and Security of Personal information

RCPAQAP senior management oversees RCPAQAP’s management of personal information in accordance with this policy, the Privacy Act and other applicable legislative requirements.

All personal information that is collected is held electronically on password-protected systems or in paper-based files.

This personal information is located on site at our premises or on secure off-site online services or archived off-site in secure locations.

Physical security is a high priority and our sites are well secured and alarmed. Personal information is only accessible by persons that require access to that information to carry out their work. RCPAQAP has directed its staff and others to whom personal information is disclosed that personal information must be dealt with in accordance with this policy and kept secure from unauthorised access or disclosure.

RCPAQAP takes reasonable steps to preserve the security of personal information collected when you use our website. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or online service can be guaranteed totally secure. Accordingly, although RCPAQAP aims to protect such information, RCPAQAP cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online products or services and you do so at your own risk.

RCPAQAP provides services and products to customers and through agents in many different countries around the world.  RCPAQAP also uses global providers of cloud-based facilities and application servers in the delivery of its products and services.  Whilst much RCPAQAP data (including collected personal information) is held on facilities located in Australia, some personal information may need to be collected in, held on facilities in, or disclosed to recipients in jurisdictions other than Australia.  In such situations RCPAQAP seeks to ensure that such personal information is collected and held in accordance with this policy and the Privacy Principles.  If this is of concern please advise RCPAQAP for more detailed information.

Updating Personal Information that RCPAQAP holds about you

RCPAQAP endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Please contact the privacy Officer if you believe that the information RCPAQAP holds about you requires changing or becomes out of date.

Accessing Personal Information that RCPAQAP holds about you

You can, in most cases, access the personal information RCPAQAP holds about you. You can also indicate whether you wish RCPAQAP not to collect any particular information about you or NOT to use it for any particular purpose. You may also be removed from any electronic databases or email lists if you wish.

If you wish to do any of the above, please contact the Privacy Officer as set out below. Written requests are preferred.

Complaints or enquiries

Tony Badrick
P +612 9045 6002
F +612 9356 2003
E [email protected]

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