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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 4 October 2026

1. About this policy

Hills Audiology is a business name of Abie Thomas Medical Pty Ltd (ABN 17 103 361 495). It is an independent audiology clinic at Suite 4, 15 Terminus Street, Castle Hill NSW 2154. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Hills Audiology.

We respect your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information, including your health information, and how you can access it or make a complaint.

We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and by the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW). As a contracted service provider under the Australian Government Hearing Services Program, we also handle client information in line with our Service Provider Contract.

This policy applies to our clinic, home and aged care visits, our website (hillsaudiology.com.au) and our online shop (hillsaudiology.com.au/shop). We may update it from time to time; the current version is always on our website. This policy was last updated on 4 October 2026.

2. What information we collect

We only collect information we need to provide our services and run our practice. Depending on the service, this may include:

  • Identity and contact details: your name, date of birth, gender, address, phone number and email address, and the details of a carer, guardian, power of attorney or next of kin.
  • Health information: your medical and hearing history, symptoms, medications, hearing test results and audiograms, ear examination findings, tinnitus history, hearing aid prescriptions and fitting data, and reports from or to other health professionals.
  • Funding and government identifiers: your Medicare number, Pensioner Concession Card, DVA Gold or White Card details, Hearing Services Program client or voucher number, NDIS number and plan details, and WorkCover (icare) claim details.
  • Payment and insurance details: private health fund membership, invoices and payments. Card payments are processed by our payment provider; we do not store full card numbers.
  • Device information: the make, model and serial number of your hearing aids, and data your hearing aids or their apps share with your audiologist, such as usage hours and settings, if you agree to it.
  • Website and online shop information: details you enter in booking, enquiry and quote forms, shop account details, and technical information such as your IP address, browser and pages visited (see section 6).
  • Job applicant information: your CV, qualifications, registrations and referee details if you apply to work with us.

Health information is “sensitive information” under the Privacy Act. We only collect it with your consent, or where the law allows it, such as in an emergency.

3. How we collect it

Wherever practical, we collect information directly from you: when you book, fill in our client forms, attend an appointment, call or email us, or use our website.

Sometimes we collect information from other people, with your consent or where the law allows, including:

  • your GP, ENT specialist or other treating health professional, for example in a referral;
  • the Australian Government Hearing Services Program portal, when you choose us as your provider and give consent for us to access your records;
  • a previous hearing provider, when your records are transferred to us;
  • DVA, the NDIS, icare/WorkCover or your employer’s insurer, for funded services;
  • a family member, carer, guardian or aged care facility acting for you;
  • hearing aid manufacturers, when your device is repaired or serviced.

If you do not give us the information we ask for, we may not be able to provide a service, confirm your eligibility for funding, or claim on your behalf.

4. Why we collect, use and disclose it

We use your information to:

  • assess your hearing and provide hearing tests, ear wax removal, tinnitus management, hearing aid selection, fitting and ongoing care;
  • communicate with you, including appointment confirmations and reminders by SMS, email or phone;
  • check your eligibility for, and claim for services under, the Hearing Services Program, DVA, the NDIS, Medicare, WorkCover (icare) or your private health fund;
  • write reports and correspond with your GP, specialist or other treating practitioners;
  • order, fit, repair and service hearing aids and accessories;
  • manage payments, accounts and our online shop;
  • meet our legal, professional, insurance and contractual obligations, including program audits and quality checks;
  • improve our services and website.

We only use or disclose your information for the purpose we collected it, a directly related purpose you would reasonably expect, with your consent, or where the law requires or allows it.

Hearing Services Program clients. If you receive services under the Australian Government Hearing Services Program, we access your details through the program’s portal with your consent. We share information about your services, devices and claims with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, which administers the program. The Department may audit our records, and if you move to another provider, we transfer your records to them as the program requires. Conditions apply under the Australian Government Hearing Services Program.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it, only as needed, with:

  • your GP, ENT specialist and other health professionals involved in your care;
  • the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (Hearing Services Program), DVA, the NDIS Agency or your plan manager, Services Australia (Medicare), icare/WorkCover and insurers, and private health funds, to confirm eligibility and process claims;
  • hearing aid manufacturers and suppliers, to order, program, repair and service your devices;
  • our contractors and service providers, such as cloud-based practice management and online booking systems, SMS and email services, IT support, data storage, website hosting, payment and debt recovery providers;
  • advertising, analytics and social media platforms, which receive technical website and app data only, as explained in section 6;
  • marketing, digital marketing, advertising, social media, web design and development agencies and consultants who help us run our website, online shop, social media, advertising and client communications. Depending on their role, they may access contact details and enquiries submitted through our website, forms and social media, website, analytics and advertising data, and contact lists of people who have agreed to receive marketing from us. They do not have access to your clinical records;
  • your nominated family member, carer, guardian or aged care facility, with your consent;
  • our professional advisers, accountants, lawyers, auditors and insurers;
  • courts, regulators, police or other authorities, where the law requires it.

Contractors and agents. We only give our contractors, service providers and agencies the information they need to do their work for us. We require them to keep it confidential, to use it only for the services they provide to us, and to handle it in line with the Privacy Act.

Overseas disclosure. Some of our service providers store data in the cloud, and some hearing aid manufacturers run fitting software and repair centres overseas. Your information may therefore be stored or accessed in countries including the United States, Singapore, Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany, and other countries where these providers operate. We take reasonable steps to make sure these providers protect your information in line with the APPs.

6. Website, cookies, social media and advertising

Forms. When you use a booking, enquiry or quote form on our website, we receive the details you enter and use them to respond to you. Please do not include detailed health information in a web form; we will ask for it securely at your appointment.

Cookies and similar technologies. Our website and online shop use cookies, pixels, tags, software development kits and similar technologies. Some are essential to make the site work, such as remembering what is in your shop cart or blocking spam on our forms. Others help us understand how people use our site, measure our advertising, and show you relevant ads on other websites and apps.

Analytics and advertising tools. We use, or may use from time to time, tools including:

  • Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads and Google reCAPTCHA, including advertising on Google Search, YouTube and Google partner sites;
  • the Meta Pixel and Conversions API, for advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger;
  • the TikTok Pixel and Events API;
  • the LinkedIn Insight Tag;
  • the Microsoft Advertising (Bing) tag;
  • review widgets that display our Google reviews;
  • similar tools from other advertising, social media and analytics platforms we may use in future.

These tools may collect your IP address, device and browser type, approximate location, the pages you visit, the links and buttons you click, and whether you made a booking or enquiry. The platforms may combine this with information they already hold about you, under their own privacy policies.

Remarketing and audiences. We may show ads to people who have visited our website or engaged with our social media pages, and to people with similar interests. If we, or an agency acting for us, create a custom audience from contact details such as an email address or phone number, the platform encrypts (hashes) the details before matching them, and we only do this for people who have agreed to receive marketing from us. We never share your health information, hearing test results or Hearing Services Program details with advertising or social media platforms, and we do not target ads based on your health information.

Your choices. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, use your browser’s private mode, or install the Google Analytics opt-out add-on. You can manage the ads you see in your account settings on Google (My Ad Center), Facebook, Instagram and Threads (Accounts Centre), TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube. Blocking cookies may stop some parts of our site, such as forms or the shop cart, from working properly.

Social media. We have pages and channels on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn, and may use others in future. If you follow, comment on or message us there, we can see the information you share and your public profile, and the platform’s own privacy policy also applies. Please do not post health information in public comments; send us a private message or call us instead. We never post client photos, videos, stories or testimonials without your written consent, and you can withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us.

Marketing. With your consent, we may send you hearing health information, check-up and maintenance reminders, or news about our services by email, SMS, phone, mail or social media messaging. You can opt out at any time by using the unsubscribe link, replying STOP to an SMS or emailing us. Appointment confirmations and important service messages are not marketing and will still be sent.

Automated decisions. We do not make decisions about you that are made solely by a computer program and that could significantly affect your rights or interests.

7. How we protect and keep your information

We store client records in secure electronic systems and, where paper records exist, in locked storage at our clinic. We protect them with access controls, passwords, staff confidentiality obligations, secure backups, and up-to-date security and anti-virus software. Only staff and contractors who need your information to do their job can access it.

How long we keep it. As required by NSW health records law, we keep health records for at least 7 years after your last service, or for a client who was under 18 when the information was collected, until they turn 25. After that, we securely destroy or de-identify records we no longer need, and keep a note of what was destroyed and when.

Data breaches. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

8. Other important information

Your consent. By using our website or online shop, booking an appointment, submitting a form or giving us your information, you consent to us collecting, using and disclosing your information as described in this policy. You can withdraw your consent to marketing at any time. If you withdraw consent for something we need to provide a service, we may not be able to provide it.

De-identified information. We may use information that has been de-identified or combined, so that it no longer identifies you, for reporting, research, quality improvement, business planning and to measure our marketing.

Reviews and testimonials. Reviews you post publicly, for example on Google or social media, can be seen by others. We may display public reviews on our website or social media. We only publish a client story, testimonial, photo or video that identifies you with your written consent.

Calls, emails and messages. We keep records of our communications with you, including emails, SMS, social media messages and notes of phone calls, and may use third-party platforms to send and manage them.

Sending information online. No method of sending information over the internet, by email or by SMS is completely secure. We take reasonable steps to protect information once we receive it, but we cannot guarantee the security of information while it is being sent to us. Please do not send detailed health information by email, web form or social media message; call us or bring it to your appointment instead.

Third-party websites and platforms. Our website and social media pages link to, or are hosted on, websites and platforms run by others, such as Google, Meta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, hearing aid manufacturers and government agencies. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices, and their own privacy policies apply when you use them.

Children. We collect information about clients under 18 from a parent or guardian, who can also make access requests and give consent on the child’s behalf, unless the law requires otherwise.

Sale or restructure of our business. If our business, or part of it, is sold, merged or restructured, your information may be transferred to the new owner or operator, who must continue to protect it under privacy law and keep health records as required.

Disclosures required or allowed by law. We may use or disclose your information without your consent where the law requires or allows it, for example to lessen or prevent a serious threat to someone’s life, health or safety, to comply with a court order or subpoena, to cooperate with a government or regulatory authority, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

Changes to this policy. We may change this policy at any time by publishing an updated version on our website. The updated policy applies from the date it is published. Where the law requires it, we will tell you about significant changes.

9. Your rights, complaints and contact details

Access and correction. You can ask to see or get a copy of the information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it if it is wrong, out of date or incomplete. Email support@hillsaudiology.com.au, marked “Attention: Privacy Officer”. We will respond within 30 days. We do not charge for a request, but may charge a reasonable fee to cover copying costs, and we will tell you before we do. If we refuse, we will explain why in writing. If you are a Hearing Services Program client moving to another provider, we transfer your records as the program requires.

Anonymity. You can make a general enquiry without giving your name. To provide clinical care, or claim funding for you, we need to identify you.

Complaints. If you are concerned about how we handled your information, please email us first at support@hillsaudiology.com.au, marked “Attention: Privacy Officer”. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact:

  • the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): 1300 363 992, www.oaic.gov.au;
  • the Information and Privacy Commission NSW (health records): 1800 472 679, ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au;
  • Hearing Services Program clients can also contact the program: 1800 500 726, hearing@health.gov.au.

Contact our Privacy Officer

Attention: Privacy Officer, Hills Audiology (Abie Thomas Medical Pty Ltd)
Suite 4, 15 Terminus Street, Castle Hill NSW 2154
Phone: (02) 7226 5899
Email (preferred): support@hillsaudiology.com.au