healthdirect (1800MEDICARE) helpline collection notice

This notice outlines how Healthdirect Australia Ltd (Healthdirect) will collect, use, protect and share your information when you use the healthdirect helpline service (also known as 1800MEDICARE nationally, and NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria).

It should be read alongside our Privacy Policy for members of the public.

When you contact the healthdirect helpline, Healthdirect collects and uses personal and health information with your consent to

• assess your health needs and provide appropriate advice, triage or support
• determine appropriate health-related outcomes or actions
• support the safe and effective delivery of our services
• support quality assurance, complaints handling, incident management, training and service improvement, and
• meet our legal, regulatory and recordkeeping obligations.

If you do not wish to provide your identity, the following option(s) are available to you:

• You can use the service with a pseudonym, that is, a nickname, alias or descriptor that is not your real name.
• You can request that we proceed without disclosing an identity (please note that we will still collect a limited subset of information to facilitate your call, for example, your postcode and phone number).
• You can request your call recording and AI-generated transcript to be turned off when your call connects to the nurse.

To exercise any of these options, please advise the nurse answering your call.

However, please be aware that by withholding some or all your personal or sensitive information, there may be limitations to the services that we are able to provide to you, such as limitations on our ability to provide specific health information or advice or for us to refer you to other services.

We generally collect this information directly from you. On occasion, we may collect information about you from persons or sources other than yourself (for example, a family member, carer or authorised representative) where appropriate. Some information is collected automatically during your call, including an audio recording of the call, automated transcripts and analytics derived from the audio and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) inputs. If you do not provide this information, please advise the call agent. This may limit the healthcare services we can provide to you.

We collect:

• your name and date of birth
• socio-demographic information, such as your age and sex, dependants, occupation and postcode
• contact details, such as your email address and phone number
• sensitive health information about your illnesses, symptoms you have experienced, any disabilities or other health services you are receiving or will receive in the future, any medications that you are taking, and where clinically relevant, sensitive information about your ethnic background or sexual practices
• information about your call from our telephony provider (Telstra), such as the date and time of the call, general location information (such as state or region), and a partially redacted phone number (this information is collected regardless of whether you are successfully connected to the helpline), and
• recordings of your audio and video calls (recordings of the call are stored as part of your health interaction record).

If you do not wish to have your audio or video call recorded, please advise our staff as soon as you speak to them.

We may also generate additional system-supported outputs to assist with service delivery and quality improvement, including:

• automated transcripts of your call (derived from the audio recording, after the call)
• sentiment analysis and quality insights (including call themes, quality indicators and compliance flags)
• information from the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu, including your keypad selections and, where relevant, your spoken intent / reason for calling, and
• other analytics or reporting information.

Your information is primarily used to provide you with the healthdirect helpline service, including facilitating your access to healthcare. This may include:

• delivering triage, advice and referrals
• disclosing your information to another health practitioner, health service or government health service involved in your care, where relevant, with your consent or as otherwise permitted by law, and
• sending a personalised summary of advice and information via SMS (where requested).

As part of your health record for the interaction, we will usually retain the 'types of information' noted above, alongside a copy of the call recording. We retain these health records in accordance with Healthdirect's health records retention obligations, which are explained further in Healthdirect's Privacy Policy for members of the public.

We may also use your information that is collected through the interaction (including audio, video call, transcript, sentiment score and analytics) for operational and quality purposes, including:

• quality assurance, coaching and staff training
• complaints handling and incident review
• service performance reporting and analytics, and
• continuous improvement of the helpline.

We may use your contact details to invite you to provide feedback about your experience with the helpline. This helps us understand how our services are performing and where improvements can be made.

If selected, you may:

• receive an SMS survey, or
• be invited to remain on the line after your interaction with the helpline to complete a survey.

Participation is voluntary, and you may choose not to take part or opt out of receiving feedback requests at any time.

Feedback is used in a de-identified or aggregated form for service monitoring, reporting and improvement activities. Any identifying information used to send survey invitations is handled securely and kept separate from survey responses.

Healthdirect uses AI-enabled technology to support the efficiency, safety and quality of its services.

We use systems that include:

• natural language processing to capture your reason for calling and route you appropriately. A keypad (DTMF) alternative is always available.
• converting speech to text (AI-generated transcription), and
• analysing interactions to support service quality and insights.

These tools are used to support our services and do not determine your care or replace clinical decision-making. All clinical decisions remain the responsibility of appropriately qualified Healthdirect staff.

To deliver and improve the helpline service, Healthdirect may share your personal and health information with your consent or as required with:

• other healthcare providers involved in your care, including virtual care services and government health services you are referred to
• our telephony carrier for call connection, under strict contractual, privacy and security controls
• service providers who support our systems and technology platforms (including cloud-based services), under strict contractual, privacy and security controls, and
• companies that conduct surveys for us to seek your feedback on the service that you have received (if you do not wish for your information to be sent to our survey partners, please tell our staff as soon as you speak with them).

Healthdirect has an obligation to ensure that the personal and sensitive information that you provide us is appropriately protected from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. In accordance with our record-keeping obligations, and Australian Privacy law, Healthdirect will securely destroy or de-identify any health records that we retain.

You have the right to:

• decline your call being recorded (and the AI-generated transcript, sentiment analytics and artefacts derived from the call recording) when you are connected to the nurse
• use a pseudonym or proceed without disclosing your identity (with limitations on service)
• opt-out of feedback / survey invitations at any time
• request access to your health information
• request the correction of your personal information if you believe it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, and
• make a complaint about how your information is handled.

Our Privacy Policy for members of the public explains in more detail how we process personal information, including how you can access or correct information we hold about you and how to contact us.

For questions about this notice, contact support@healthdirect.org.au