5. Personal and protected information

There are 5 sections to our Complaints Handling Policy:

Complaints contain protected information. The Aged Care Act defines protected information as:

personal information
information (including commercially sensitive information) that, if disclosed, could lead to an action by an entity (other than the Commonwealth) for breach of a duty of confidence.

We handle protected information in line with the law and our policies and procedures. There are strict rules for how we collect, store, use and share personal information.

5.1 Managing privacy

Our Notice of Collection explains how we manage personal information, including:

how we collect personal information
how we use personal information
when we can share personal information with others.

We only share personal information if:

we have permission from the person the information belongs to
laws allow or require us to share it
it meets one of the other exceptions in the Australian Privacy Principles.

5.2 Record keeping

Throughout the complaints handling process we will make timely records of all the actions, decisions and information we collect and consider in making our decisions. We manage our records in line with our legal and policy requirements.

5.3 Reporting

To uphold our obligations for transparency and reporting, we produce a range of analysis and reports. This includes:

an analysis of the complaints and feedback we receive
an overview of the types of complaints we receive
data and analysis of the number of complaints we receive
data and analysis of complaints finalised or under ongoing management by the Complaints Commissioner
reports to the Minister as requested or required by legislation.

The reporting does not identify older persons receiving government funded aged care and services.