Strengthening privacy, together

This week, we welcomed members of the Simpson Grierson team to The Hearing House for a dedicated privacy training session.

As a healthcare provider, The Hearing House is entrusted with sensitive personal and health information every day. Protecting that information is not only an important legal responsibility; it is fundamental to the trust our kiritaki/clients and whānau place in us.

We were joined by Priya Prakash, a solicitor in Simpson Grierson’s Privacy, Technology and IP team, and Holly Soar, a solicitor in the firm’s Commercial Litigation team with a focus on privacy, cyber and media law.

Priya and Holly took our team through key aspects of the Privacy Act and Health Information Privacy Code, as well as some of the particular considerations that arise in a healthcare setting. Importantly, the session focused on what good privacy practice looks like in our everyday work – helping our team think practically about how we collect, use, share, store and protect information.

“Privacy is about more than just compliance,” Priya said. “It helps foster the trust and confidence that enable organisations to provide effective support and care.”

The Hearing House CEO Dr Claire Green said investing in this type of training is an important part of ensuring the organisation continues to strengthen its practice.

“We work with personal and health information every day, so it is important that everyone in our team understands not just our legal obligations, but what good privacy practice looks like in the decisions we make every day.

“For a not-for-profit, being able to access this calibre of specialist advice and training on a pro bono basis is enormously valuable. It allows us to continue investing in our people and strengthening our systems while keeping our resources focused on delivering services for our kiritaki and whānau.

“We are incredibly grateful to Simpson Grierson for the ongoing pro bono support they provide to The Hearing House. I worked at Simpson Grierson earlier in my legal career, so it is particularly nice for me personally to have that connection with the firm and to see their expertise now supporting the work we do at The Hearing House.”

The Hearing House Privacy Officer Silvia Rosioru said the practical nature of the training was particularly valuable.

“Privacy is everyone’s responsibility at The Hearing House. We hold information that our kiritaki and whānau trust us to protect, so our people need to feel confident about how information should be handled, who it can appropriately be shared with, and what to do when they are unsure.

“Having the opportunity to work through practical situations with privacy specialists helps us translate the legislation and principles into what we actually do every day. It also helps us keep learning and improving our processes as an organisation.”

The session was provided as part of Simpson Grierson’s ongoing pro bono support of The Hearing House.

Access to specialist professional expertise can represent a significant cost for not-for-profit organisations, and support such as this enables us to continue strengthening our organisational capability while directing as much of our funding as possible towards supporting our kiritaki and whānau.

We are enormously grateful to Priya, Holly and the wider Simpson Grierson team for sharing their expertise and for their continued support of The Hearing House.