Privacy Policy

1300 MEDICINE closed on 30 July 2026. This service was an Australian Government-funded service operated by AHA Pty Ltd.  Where this document refers to 1300 MEDICINE this should be taken as referring to the 1300 MEDICINE service as well as AHA Pty Ltd.

1300 MEDICINE is committed to complying with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act), and the Health Privacy Principles (HPPs) contained in Schedule 1 of the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).

These laws detail how the public and private sector must handle personal information.

This Privacy Policy applies to 1300 MEDICINE services – including the medicine helpline, adverse event reporting to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and personal information collected via the 1300 MEDICINE website feedback form. This Privacy Policy is set out under the following headings:

• Collection of personal information
• Purposes for which personal information is collected, held, and used
• Disclosure of personal information
• Access to personal information
• Protection of personal information
• Complaints process
• Updating process.

The 1300 MEDICINE service did not collect personal information about an individual unless the information was necessary for one or more of its functions or activities and consent was obtained.

1300 MEDICINE may have collected personal information via:

• Direct collection of personal information from individuals during the course of delivering the 1300 MEDICINE phone service
• The 1300 MEDICINE website feedback form

Information that 1300 MEDICINE pharmacists may have collected as part of delivering the phone service included:

• Name
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Postcode
• Age
• Gender
• Health, medical or similar information
• Ethnic origin
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status
• Primary language spoken at home.

Wherever possible, we collected personal information directly from the patient, or person to whom the enquiry related. Where it was impracticable or unreasonable to do so we may have collected personal information from a third party with the patient’s consent.

All personal information was stored and recorded within our service, kept confidential and not shared with other services without consent.

Calls may have been monitored to ensure the quality of the service. Calls were not audio-recorded.

1300 MEDICINE only used or disclosed personal or health information about an individual for the primary purpose for which the information was collected or for a directly related and reasonably expected secondary purpose, such as referring the caller to another service, with the consent of the caller.

The main ways our specialist pharmacists collected and used personal information were:

• Collecting information to answer medicine questions
• Assisting and enabling consumers to report Adverse Drug Reactions to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
• For audit and training purposes, where call notes were reviewed, to help ensure the quality of the service
• To engage with another service or a person’s health practitioner, for example, where a patient requested or authorised 1300 MEDICINE to contact their health practitioner, we may have disclosed personal information about the patient to that health practitioner.

Consumers had the option to remain anonymous when interacting with 1300 MEDICINE, however the caller’s phone number was recorded automatically in the recording software on call connection. Callers were informed of this and had the option to discontinue the call if consent was not provided.

The caller’s phone number was not at any time used for any other purposes or shared with any other services without prior consent, in accordance with this policy.

1300 MEDICINE was publicly funded and therefore, was required to share de-identified service delivery data with its funders, to demonstrate value and accountability and to drive improvements in the healthcare system. When we shared or reported this data, in a de-identified form, we removed personal information so that it did not reveal information about any one individual. This will continue for any future data sharing requested by the funders.

Where a caller provided consent, 1300 MEDICINE disclosed personal information to the TGA in relation to Adverse Medicine Events (AME) and Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) reports.

AHA Pty Ltd will provide access to a person’s own information upon request by that individual, except in the limited circumstances in which it is permitted for us to withhold this information (for instance, where granting access would infringe another person’s privacy).

When a request to access personal information is made, we will require the individual to provide some form of identification (such as a driver’s licence or passport) so we can verify the person to whom the information relates.

If at any time an individual would like to know what personal information 1300 MEDICINE held about them, then a request may be made in writing to:

Privacy Request – 1300 MEDICINE

AHA Pty Ptd

Reply Paid 86905

Collins Street East, VIC 8003

1300medicine@aha.com.au

In circumstances where we have refused an individual access to their personal information, we will give them a written notice that sets out the reasons for the refusal where it is reasonable for us to do so and the way in which they may make a complaint about such refusal.

We hold personal information in electronic formats. We use a range of physical, operational, and technological security measures to protect this information. These measures include:

• Education and training to ensure our staff are aware of their privacy obligations when handling personal information
• Administrative and technical controls to restrict access to personal information to only those people who need access
• Technological security measures, including fire walls, encryption, and anti-virus software.

Some or all of this personal information may be available to authorised staff for use in accordance with this policy.

AHA Pty Ltd will continue to take all reasonable steps to keep secure any information which we hold about individuals, whether electronically or in hard-copy, and to keep this information accurate and up to date. We also require our employees and data processors to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held.

AHA Pty Ltd aims to achieve industry best practice in the security of personal information which it holds. It is our policy not to retain personal information once there is no longer a legal or business need for us to do so.

If you have a query relating to our privacy policy, feedback or a complaint please email us at 1300medicine@aha.com.au

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your concern or complaint, you may contact the Australian Information Commissioner:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218

Sydney NSW 2001

1300 363 992

enquiries@oaic.gov.au

AHA Pty Ltd may update this privacy policy at any time by publishing an updated version on this website.