General Practice Cairns (GPC) is committed to protecting the privacy of all users and managing their personal information in a secure environment. This website complies with the General Practice Cairns Privacy Policy which has been designed to ensure that personal information is protected and to specify the guidelines for the collection, use and disclosure of that personal information.

Collection of your personal information

We track the pattern of visitor usage across General Practice Cairns websites using a facility called a cookie. This cookie identifies and recognises the computer (but not the person using the computer) when you visit GPC websites.
The website has been coded in a language called PHP, so that news and other features of the website can be updated easily and simply. As part of that, PHP will often save things onto your hard-drive as "cookies". The use of cookies is an industry standard and you'll find most major websites use them. These cookies are in no-way dangerous or harmful to your computer. Most Internet browsers are pre-set to accept cookies.
If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can adjust your Internet browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used.

If you do allow the cookies to remain enabled information will be collected about which parts of the GPC websites you visit as well as a record of your IP address (your computer’s "address" on the internet) for the simple task of recording how many people have visited the website. The collection of this information assists us to continually update and improve our websites.

The information that is collected through these methods is in no way given to any other organisation, computer or person. No personally identifiable information is collected through these methods. Personal information is only collected on GPC websites when users voluntarily provide it, e.g. for directory listings, event registrations, expressions of interest etc.

How do we use your personal information?

General Practice Cairns will ensure that personal information will only be used for the purpose it was collected, or that would reasonably be accepted by the individual providing the information.

Disclosure of your information

We will not use your personal information or data for a purpose other than the purposes for which you supplied it, and will not disclose it to any other person or organisation unless:

• The information is necessary to conduct a transaction between you and that person or organisation and that transaction has been requested by you; or
• We are required by law to do so; or 
• There are reasonable grounds to believe that disclosure is necessary to prevent a threat to life or health; or
• That person or organisation is an agent or contractor providing a service to General Practice Cairns, who will be required to maintain the same or similar privacy principles as specified in privacy legislation; or
• You have given us consent to do so. In the case of information you have supplied for the Cairns Health Online Directory, the same information which appears on this website may be provided to other persons or organisations at the discretion of GPC.

Where possible GPC will keep records of any such use and disclosure.

What else you should know about privacy?

Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe. You as an individual are responsible for the security of, and access to, your own computer.

Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information over the Internet (e.g. in discussion forums, via email, or in chat sites) that this information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information in publicly accessible online forums, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.
Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your username and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are using the Internet.

For further Privacy information, please refer to the Australian Privacy Commissioner's Website.
Thank you for taking the time to read the General Practice Cairns Website Privacy Statement.