Privacy Policy

1300 MEDICINE is an Australian Government-funded service operated by Australian Healthcare Associates Pty Ltd.  Where this document refers to 1300 MEDICINE this should be taken as referring to the 1300 MEDICINE service as well as Australian Healthcare Associates 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.

1300 MEDICINE will not collect personal information about an individual unless the information is necessary for one or more of its functions or activities and consent has been obtained.

1300 MEDICINE may collect 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 collect as part of delivering the phone service includes:

• 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 will collect personal information directly from the patient, or person to whom the enquiry relates. Where it is impracticable or unreasonable to do so we may collect personal information from a third party with the patient’s consent.

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

Calls may be monitored to ensure the quality of the service. Calls are not audio-recorded.

1300 MEDICINE service will only use or disclose 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 collect and use personal information are:

• 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 records are 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 requests or has authorised 1300 MEDICINE to contact their health practitioner, we will disclose personal information about the patient to that health practitioner.

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

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

1300 MEDICINE is publicly funded and therefore, it is 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 share or report this data, in a de-identified form, we remove personal information so that it does not reveal information about any one individual.

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

1300 MEDICINE 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, for instance through the 1300 MEDICINE phone line or through the 1300 MEDICINE website feedback form, 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 holds about them, then a request may be made in writing to:

Privacy Request

1300 MEDICINE

Australian Healthcare Associates

Reply Paid 86905

Collins Street East, VIC 8003

privacy@ahaconsulting.com.au

In circumstances where we have refused an individual access to, or correction of, 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.

1300 MEDICINE will endeavour 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 by 1300 MEDICINE.

1300 MEDICINE 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 contact 1300 MEDICINE via the website feedback form at www.1300medicine.com.au. The Service Manager will endeavour to respond to you within 2 working days.

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

1300 MEDICINE may update this privacy policy at any time by publishing an updated version on this website. This may occur a part of an annual policy review cycle.