Disclaimer and privacy

The following disclaimer and privacy policy binds the use of the College website:

Please read carefully and completely the terms of the agreement that follows. By accessing the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (College) website you agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. If you do not wish to be bound to the terms of this agreement, you must not access the site.

Every effort is made to provide information that is accurate. However, protocols, syllabi, courses and other matters contained in this website are subject to change at any time by appropriate action of the College. We give no assurance or warranty that information on this site is current, and take no responsibility for matters arising from changed circumstances or other information or material that may affect the accuracy or currency of information on this site.

Copyright in this website rests with the College unless otherwise stated. All aspects of this website including data, documents, graphics, web pages and logos are copyright to the College and may not be reproduced in any shape or form.

The information posted here should not be considered medical advice and is not intended to replace consultation with a qualified medical professional. We do not answer specific medical questions.

This website is provided on an 'as is', 'as available' basis without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to, those of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purposes or non-infringement or any warranty arising from a course of dealing, usage, or trade practice. No oral advice or written information provided shall create a warranty; nor shall members or visitors to the site rely on any such information or advice. This publication is not intended to be a contract, explicit or implied, and The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons reserves the right to make changes in the information contained.

The user assumes all responsibility and risk for the use of this website and the Internet generally. Under no circumstances, including negligence, shall anyone involved in creating or maintaining this website be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or lost profits that result from the use or inability to use the website and/or any other websites that are linked to this site. We accept no liability or responsibility to any person as a consequence of any reliance upon the information contained in this site. Nor shall they be liable for any such damages including, but not limited to, reliance by a member or visitor on any information obtained via the website; or that result from mistakes, omissions, interruptions, deletion of files, viruses, errors, defects, or any failure of performance, communications failure, theft, destruction or unauthorized access. States or countries that do not allow some or all of the above limitations of liability, liability shall be limited to the greatest extent allowed by law.

Visitors agree to use the website only for lawful purposes and are prohibited from posting on the website any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, or obscene material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law. Although in the absence of a specific complaint the postings are monitored for compliance with this provision, in an effort to discourage such conduct, please note that all postings in the discussion forum area will list the author's name - no anonymous posts are permitted.

We are distributors (not publishers) of the content supplied by visitors and other third parties. Accordingly, we have no more editorial control over this content than does a public library. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content made available by members, visitors and other third parties are those of the respective author(s) and we are not responsible for any material posted by third parties. We cannot and do not endorse it in any way, nor do they vouch for its accuracy or usefulness. Furthermore, we expressly disclaim any liability associated with material posted by third parties.

Reference to any person, products, services, hypertext link to the third parties or other information by trade name, trademark, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation by the College, nor is an endorsement of the College implied by such links. Any external links on the College website are for convenience only, as an index in a public library.

Any information on this website may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Furthermore, the information may change from time to time without any notice.

The College has developed a policy to protect users' privacy in compliance with privacy legislation. Our policy is to inform users of the following:

• the identify and contact details of the College
• what personal information is being collected
• who is collecting personal information
• how personal information is being used
• to whom personal information is being disclosed
• how personal information is being stored
• the consequences of personal information being withheld from the College
• how personal information can be accessed and corrected

Without limiting the means by which information is collected by the College, the usage analysis software used by the College records:

• unique visitors and sessions
• requested pages, downloads, search terms used, posted forms, status and errors, hits and bytes downloaded per directory, file and file type
• entrance pages, exit pages, click paths, click to and click from and length of session
• domains, countries and IP addresses
• browsers, platforms and robots.

The statistics are de-identified at the time of recording. This information is used for administrative purposes, including to improve and assess services, and to monitor usage patterns on our site in order to improve navigation and design features - helping you to get information more easily.

The College may collect identifiable information such as contact details. Further, access to member only services has been made possible by using information contained in College databases. Accordingly, we collect personal information to facilitate the granting of access to member only services.

No data is stored in an unencrypted form.

The College will not knowingly make an attempt to identify users or their browsing activities. However, in the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect our Internet Service Provider's logs, and thus gain information about users and their activities.

All of the identified information that the College has used to grant access can be viewed and changed by users when they view their personal details.  In addition, users may contact the Privacy Officer at any time to access personal information about themselves.  They will be required to fill out a form to access this information.  Access will be provided unless the request is unreasonable or the applicable privacy legislation permits or requires the College to decline that access.  As permitted by law, a fee may be requested to cover the cost of access.

The College collects personal information for a number of purposes (being the primary purposes of collection), including:

• to provide membership services and benefits and maintain membership and service/benefits records;
• to assist, support, provide and improve continuing professional development and education and training;
• to monitor and investigate conduct;
• to implement, monitor and maintain quality assurance processes and systems, as well as processes and systems concerning regulatory matters, registrations, accreditation, audits, risk and claims management (including dealings with insurers);
• to procure funding, donations or other support for the activities of the College; and
• to enable internal administration, training, assessments and reviews.

Any information users provide will only be used for the primary purposes for which users have provided it or a secondary purpose if it directly relates to the primary purpose or for any other lawful purpose.

The College engages third parties to perform certain business functions.  Therefore, it is sometimes necessary to disclose personal information to those suppliers.  Disclosures may also be made to other third parties, including advisors and regulatory authorities. Where disclosure takes place, the College seeks to ensure that personal information is handled appropriately.

Aspects of the functions within the RACS Portfolio have been declared in Australia as Quality Assurance Activities under the Health Insurance Act 1973 (Cth), Overview of the Commonwealth Qualified Privilege Scheme, Australian Government; and in New Zealand as Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, Overview of Quality Assurance Activities under the Act, New Zealand Government.

As a result of these declarations, the data that becomes available as a result of the prescribed activity cannot be disclosed outside of the activity (in reports or publications) in a manner that identifies a person. The confidentiality of the information received is protected accordingly and high-level data security procedures are maintained.

For details on the activities protected please refer to:

Australia:

• Declaration of Quality Assurance Activity for RACS Portfolio

New Zealand:

• Health Practitioners (Protected Quality Assurance Activity - RACS - Portfolio Programme) Notice

This website will use cookies to manage login and logout.

We endeavour to ensure the College website is secure through the use of firewalls. Personal data is maintained under strict security and can only be accessed internally by the College employees who have permission to do so.

Information retrieved by the Find a surgeon directory on the College website will be limited to the practice address, phone and website URL of Fellows who are listed.

Read more about being listed in Find a Surgeon.

Exam results on the website will be published by number and never by name.

Any concerns about the College's handling of personal information should be directed to the Privacy Officer on +61 3 9249 1200 or at college.privacy@surgeons.org.  Requests may be required in writing and resolution of concerns will be sought as promptly as possible.

The Australian Government's Privacy Commissioner is an additional source of information, as is the New Zealand Government's Privacy Commissioner.

The College reserves the right to modify or amend this privacy statement at any time, provided that those modifications or amendments comply with applicable laws.

The College may provide further relevant privacy information to users at the point of collection, in which case, such information should be read in conjunction with this policy. 

Currently we are using Google Analytics to analyse the audience of the website and improve our content. No personal information is collected from Google Analytics. Read more about the privacy policy concerning Google Analytics.

These terms of use will be constructed according to and are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia.