Background

Mission statement

Guiding principles

Target audience

Information sources and resources development guidelines

Medical and Research Advisory Panel

Complementary Therapies Advisory Panel

Website advertising / links policy

Website privacy statement

Queries, concerns and further information

Background

In line with Australian society’s increased use of computer technology and internet communication, our website allows us to further promote awareness of the Council and its services – especially in regard to hardcopy information resources, Hep C Helpline and Prisons Hep C Helpline, Hep Connect peer support service, Education and Development initiatives and C-een and Heard speakers service.

Further, our website promotes awareness on administrative matters such as committee structures, memberships, constitution, policies and procedures, etc.

        
Mission statement

   
Our website helps the Hepatitis C Council of NSW work towards our:

• high quality health care and community support for all those affected by hep C
• increased ability and opportunity for people with hep C to take part in their own health management
• active community participation in the hep C related health care system
• improved quality of life and reduced discrimination for all those affected by hep C, and
• reduced rates of hep C transmission
          

Our priority work areas are:

• to provide information and support to people affected by hep C
• to build the capacity of the sector to deliver effective outcomes to the affected communities and to prevent transmission of hep C
• to raise awareness of hep C
• to advocate on behalf of affected communities and provide leadership in the sector
• to build a strong, representative organisation as a foundation for our work
           

          
Guiding principles

 
Reflecting the principles that guide the Council, this project respects and draws from the Ottowa Charter for Health Promotion. Development and operation of our website is based on key fundamental beliefs:

• developing partnerships and involving affected communities
• access and equity
• harm reduction
• health promotion

Target audience
  
Our website is broadly aimed at different groups on several levels:

• people affected by hep C in NSW – people living with HCV, friends, family, employers, health care workers, HCV-related health agencies, HCV-relevant health planners
• the wider NSW community – media, politicians, health planners, other government departments, local councils, local communities
• people affected by hep C in Australia
• the wider Australian community
• people affected by hep C, elsewhere in the world– our peer hep C organisations in other parts of the world, their health care service providers, their health planners and their elected political representatives
       

Information sources and resources development guidelines

Wherever possible, we acknowledge the original authors and sources of articles and information that we carry in our resources.

We have detailed policies and procedures that guide the development of our resources and related projects - Resource Development Guidelines. These have been endorsed within our Quality Improvement Council accreditation.

A key aspect in the development of our resources is the collaboration and involvement of respected hep C expert clinicians and researchers (see below) as well as the involvement, through planning and focus testing, of people with hep C.

From the early years, the Council has taken a collaborative approach with the NSW health and medical sector. Within resource development, we rely on the involvement of key clinicians and workers in the field. With resource distribution, we rely on health care agencies and workers across the state to help distribute resources to the wide range of people who are affected by hep C.

Medical and Research Advisory Panel

Our Medical and Research Advisory Panel who assist in the development and maintenance of most information contained within our website and other information resources is made up of:

Dr David Baker, MBBS, MB ChB, Dip Medicine (Sexual Health), Dip Child Health.

     
Professor Robert Batey, AM, BSc (Med), MD, FRACP, FRCP. Chair of Medicine, Bankstown Hospital. Chair of the National Hepatitis C Subcommittee of MACASHH – the Ministerial Advisory Committee on AIDS, Sexual Health and Hepatitis to the Australian Government.

    
Associate Professor Gregory Dore, BSc, FRACP, MPH, PhD. Head, Viral Hepatitis Program at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Infectious Diseases Physician, St Vincent's Hospital.

        
Professor Geoffrey Farrell, MD, FRACP. Professor of Hepatic Medicine, and Director of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unit, The Canberra Hospital.

          
Professor John Kaldor, PhD. Professor of Epidemiology, and Deputy Director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

          
Professor Geoffrey McCaughan, FRACP, PhD. Physician-in-Charge, Australian National Liver Transplant Unit. AW Morrow Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Director of the AW Morrow Gastroenterology & Liver Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

           
Dr Cathy Pell, MBBS, MM (Sexual Health), FAChSHM. Sexual Health Physician and General Practitioner, Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (Primary Care Liaison Team).

Associate Professor Carla Treloar, BSc (Hons), PhD. Head, Hepatitis C program and Deputy Director of the National Centre in HIV Social Research.

Dr Ingrid van Beek, MBBS, MBA, FAFPHM, FAChAM. Director of the Kirketon Road Centre, Kings Cross. Medical Director of Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC), Kings Cross. Conjoint Lecturer at the School of Community Medicine and an Honorary Visiting Fellow of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre of the University of NSW. President of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

          
Dr Alex Wodak, Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst. President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and was President of the International Harm Reduction Association from 1996 to 2004.
   

Complementary Therapies Advisory Panel

Our Complementary Therapies Advisory Panel who assist in the development and maintenance of complementary therapies information contained within our website and other information resources is made up of:

Christine Berle, Acupuncturist and Master of Science (Research) Student studying the effect of acupuncture on people with Hepatitis C at the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Department of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Honorary Acupuncture Clinician to UTS and the University of Western Sydney.

Peter de Ruyter, B.Sc.Ag. (Syd.Uni). RN. Dip Med Herbalism, Cert Homeopathy, Cert Reiki I & II, Memb NHAA. Memb ATMS.

Dr Nyrie Dodd, Director, Newtown Chinese Medicine Centre/Alice Street General Practice.

Ses Salmond, B.A., N.D., Dip. Bot. Med., Dip. Hom., Dip. Nutr. Naturopath and herbalist. Fellow and member NHAA.

     
Yifan Yang, President of the Chinese Traditional Medicine Association (NSW). Lecturer at the Sydney Institute of TCM And a past Board Member of AACMA. Lecturer in TCM at Sydney Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, University of Western Sydney, and at UTS College of TCM.

Website advertising / links policy   

This website does not accept or carry advertisements, however, we do promote initiatives that we feel will provide benefit to our communities of interest: people affected by hepatitis C and those working to address the Australian HCV epidemic. Typically, these are promotions for research trials or support projects.

We do not carry a large number of links to other websites. Although we make every effort to ensure the links that we do carry relate to quality websites that we feel will provide benefit to our communities of interest, we take no responsibility for their content.

Website privacy statement
        

Information Collection and Privacy Protection
We make every effort to adhere to guidelines developed by the Australian Privacy Commissioner for Government web sites. This page explains the type of information that is collected by our website, how such information is used and under what circumstances and to whom it may be disclosed. If you have any privacy concerns, you should direct them to us via hccnsw@hepatitisc.org.au

    
Your E-mail Address
We will only record your e-mail address in the event that you send us a message by e-mail, if you utilise our Email Questions Answered function, make bookings for C-een & Heard speakers, education and training sessions or if you apply for membership using our online function. Your e-mail address will be used only for the purpose for which you have provided it and will not be added to any external mailing lists without your prior consent by way of a specific request in writing. If you become a member of the Hepatitis C Council of NSW we may contact you from time to time when promoting volunteer work with the Council but we will do this confidentially and provide an opt-out option for such contact. We will not use or disclose your e-mail address for any other purpose, without your prior written consent.

   
Security Level
Our website has been tested to an advanced level of site security. Where necessary, we have the capacity to limit access to particular parts of the site on a username/password basis. Our membership E-transactions are enabled through a Shared SSL Certificate and our level of security is authenticated by the USERTRUST Network.

     
Anonymity
Where username/password functions apply within our site, we encourage the use of pseudonyms (made-up names or nicknames). The minimum information required to enrol, and subsequently identify you to the site, is a pseudonym and a password. Your e-mail address is only required if you wish to be notified of new material (a user who wishes to remain anonymous can easily establish an anonymous e-mail address at Hotmail or similar facilities). It is important to realise that all information is accessible without the need to enrol.

    
Clickstream Data and Cookies
Our website uses a "cookie" for maintaining contact with a user through their session. A cookie is a small file supplied by our website and stored by the web browser software on your computer when you access our site. (An explanation of cookies can be found at the site of the Australian Privacy Commissioner). The cookie allows our website to recognise you as an individual as you move from one page to another.
At the end of your session, you may choose to manually logoff. When you logoff, the cookie is immediately deleted. If you do not logoff at the end of your session, our website will automatically log you off after about 20 minutes. The cookie stored within your browser will expire when you close your web browser. This will ensure that no other person has access to information personalised for you. If you wish to use the features of our website that enable us to personalise the site for you, you must use a browser which is enabled to accept cookies. Our website makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes:
* the user's server address
* the user's top level domain name
* the date and time of access to the site
* pages accessed and documents downloaded
* the previous site visited
* the type of browser software in use.

    
No attempt will be made to identify anonymous users (including users logging on using a pseudonym) or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Internet Service Provider's log files.
Our website hosting provider uses a web analytics service to help analyse how users use the site. They anonymously track how our visitors interact with our website, including where they came from, what they did on the site, and whether they completed any transactions on the site such as membership application.
You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of our website. By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

     
Personal Information
Any personal information provided through our website about individuals or linked partner sites will comply with the National Privacy Principles (as outlined in the Guidelines on Privacy in the Private Health Sector, 8 November 2001). A copy of the Act is available at http://www.privacy.gov.au/health/guidelines/. Any information collected as part of your personal profile will be used only for the purposes of our website’s personalisation functions, and will not be used for any other purpose or passed to any other organisation.

        
Queries, concerns and further information

If you have any queries, concerns or require further information relating to privacy and our website, please contact our site maintenance officer.