Privacy policy

How Newcastle Neuro Allied Health collects, uses and protects your personal information.

Newcastle Neuro Allied Health Pty Ltd (ABN 78 699 415 784) ("we", "us") provides mobile speech pathology services to adults across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. We are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information, in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW).

Services previously provided by Kristin Mueller trading as Newcastle Neuro Speech Pathology (ABN 44 860 156 837) are now provided by Newcastle Neuro Allied Health Pty Ltd, and records from those services are managed under this policy.

What information we collect

We only collect information we need to provide safe, effective services. This may include:

contact and identity details — your name, date of birth, address, phone, email, and next of kin, guardian, nominee or advocate details
health information — your diagnosis, medical and communication or swallowing history, assessment results, case notes, reports and information from your GP and other health professionals
funding details — your NDIS number and plan details, Medicare, private health insurance, workers compensation claim or Support at Home details, and plan manager or support coordinator contacts
safety information — details needed to visit you safely at home or in the community, collected through our Home Visit Safety Check
payment details — needed to invoice you or your funding body
website and enquiry information — what you send us through our referral, contact and feedback forms, and basic website usage data (see "Our website" below)

How we collect it

We collect most information directly from you or your representative — at intake, during sessions and through our forms. With your consent, we also collect information from referrers, your GP and other health professionals, support coordinators, plan managers, insurers and care providers. You can choose to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym when making a general enquiry, but we usually need to identify you to provide services.

Why we collect and use it

to assess your needs and provide speech pathology services
to communicate with you and your support network
to write reports and share information with others involved in your care, with your consent
to claim payment from your funding body and manage our accounts
to keep you and our workers safe, and to manage incidents and complaints
to meet our legal, professional and NDIS obligations, including record keeping and audits
to evaluate and improve our services (using de-identified information only)

Who we share it with

We only share your information with your consent, or where the law requires or allows it. This may include:

your GP, other health professionals and care providers involved in your care
the NDIA, your plan manager or support coordinator, Medicare, your private health insurer, workers compensation insurer or Support at Home provider, for funding and claiming
the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, NSW Ageing and Disability Commission, police or other authorities, where required to report a serious incident or keep someone safe
our auditors, insurers and professional advisers, under confidentiality obligations
service providers who help us run our practice, such as our client management system (Splose, including its AI features), email and document storage (Google Workspace) and accounting (Xero)

We never sell your personal information.

How we use artificial intelligence

We use the artificial intelligence (AI) features built into Splose, our secure client management system, to transcribe and summarise sessions, and to help draft descriptive sections of reports (such as background information) from information collected with you. A speech pathologist reviews and checks all AI-assisted content before it is finalised. AI is never used to make decisions about you, form clinical impressions, or write recommendations — these are always made and written by your speech pathologist. We only use AI in your sessions with your written consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Splose AI is powered by OpenAI under a zero data retention agreement, so your information is not kept by OpenAI or used to train AI models. We do not put your information into any other AI tool.

No decisions about you are made by a computer program. We have assessed our use of AI against the automated decision-making transparency requirements of the Privacy Act (APP 1.7–1.9) and will update this policy before introducing any tool that makes or significantly contributes to decisions about you.

Storing information outside Australia

Some of our service providers store or process information outside Australia:

Splose AI — when we use Splose AI (with your consent), session information is processed by OpenAI in the United States. Splose has a zero data retention agreement with OpenAI, so the information is not kept or used to train AI models. Splose's privacy policy also explains that it may share information with other overseas providers to improve its AI features.
Google Workspace — our email and document storage may be held in Google data centres outside Australia, including the United States.
Claude (Anthropic) — information about job applicants and workers may be processed in the United States (see below). We do not put client information into Claude.

We choose providers with strong security and privacy protections and take reasonable steps to make sure your information is handled in line with Australian privacy law.

Job applicants and workers

If you apply to work with us, or work with us as a contractor or employee, we collect the information needed to recruit you and to meet our screening, insurance and NDIS compliance obligations (such as your qualifications, registration, NDIS Worker Screening clearance, insurance and training records). We use Claude, an AI assistant provided by Anthropic, to help manage these compliance records and prepare recruitment material. We do not use AI to screen, shortlist, rank or assess applicants or workers — those decisions are made by the Director.

How we keep your information safe

Your information is stored electronically in secure, password-protected systems with multi-factor authentication. Access is limited to workers who need it for their role, and every worker is bound by confidentiality obligations. Paper notes are scanned into your file and securely destroyed. We keep health records for at least 7 years from your last appointment, as required by NSW law and NDIS rules, and then securely destroy or de-identify them.

Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by contacting us. We will respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days. We do not charge for making a request, but may charge a reasonable fee for providing copies. If we refuse access or correction, we will explain why in writing and tell you how to complain.

Data breaches

If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and explain what you can do to protect yourself.

Our website

Our website is hosted by Squarespace, which uses cookies and collects basic usage information (such as pages visited) to operate and improve the site. Information you send through our website forms is used only to respond to you. You can set your browser to refuse cookies.

Questions and complaints

If you have a question or concern about your privacy, please contact us first:

Email: speechpathology@newcastleneuro.com.au
Phone: 0467 093 613

We will acknowledge your complaint within 48 hours and aim to respond within 28 days. If you are not satisfied, you can contact:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner — 1300 363 992, oaic.gov.au
NSW Information and Privacy Commission (for health records) — 1800 472 679, ipc.nsw.gov.au
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS participants) — 1800 035 544, ndiscommission.gov.au