Privacy policy

1. Who we are

PharmAssistAU provides an in-store kiosk and related workflow tools for Australian community pharmacies. At the kiosk a customer can submit eScript tokens, send a question to the pharmacist or look up a product’s price and shelf location. eScript and pharmacist requests are printed as a work slip in the dispensary and placed in the pharmacy team’s queue; a pharmacist reviews them and responds. In this policy, “PharmAssistAU”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the operator of the PharmAssistAU platform.

For privacy enquiries, access or correction requests, or complaints, contact support@pharmassistau.com.

2. Where this policy applies

This policy applies to our website, the customer kiosk, the status and response text messages we send on a pharmacy’s behalf, the pharmacist and administration portals, our support channels, and pricing or advertising enquiries. Where a participating pharmacy also enables other PharmAssistAU flows, such as ordering an eScript ahead online or booking a pharmacy service, this policy applies to those too. A participating pharmacy has its own privacy policy and responsibilities for information it handles through PharmAssistAU.

3. Information we may collect

The information we collect depends on how you use PharmAssistAU and may include:

• Contact and identity information, such as your name and the mobile number you give us so the pharmacy can text you, and for business enquiries your email address and pharmacy details.
• eScript information, such as the eScript token you scan, your collection preference, the request number and the status of your request in the pharmacy’s queue.
• Pharmacist question information, such as the topic you choose and the answers you give when you ask the pharmacist a question at the kiosk, and the pharmacist’s response. These may include health information and we treat them as sensitive.
• Pharmacy workforce information, such as staff account details, role, professional registration information and actions recorded for security, audit and workflow purposes.
• Technical information, such as device and browser information, kiosk pairing and device identifiers, session identifiers, diagnostic logs and security events.
• Business enquiry information, such as the pharmacy name, address, contact name, email, phone number, dispensing software and number of stores you give us when you ask about pricing, or the company, campaign and contact details you give us when you ask about advertising.

Product lookups at the kiosk (price and shelf location) are not linked to you and do not require personal information. Please do not provide information that is not reasonably needed for the service you are using.

4. How we collect information

We usually collect information directly from you when you use the kiosk, reply to or act on a text message, use a pharmacist or administration account, contact us or make a business enquiry. We may also receive information from a participating pharmacy, an authorised staff member or a service provider acting on our behalf.

When you send the pricing enquiry form on our website, your details go to our team and we email you a confirmation; if we cannot send it, the form offers a prepared email you can send from your own email app instead. The advertising enquiry prepares an email in your email app. If you use the pharmacy search on the pricing form, Google provides the listing details you select; that search is governed by Google’s privacy policy. Where practical, you may use parts of the service without identifying yourself. Some functions, such as a status or response text, cannot work without a mobile number.

5. Why we use information

We may collect, hold, use and disclose information to:

• deliver and administer the PharmAssistAU service;
• pass your request to the pharmacy you are in, print its work slip and place it in the team’s queue;
• send status updates and the pharmacist’s response by text message;
• support the pharmacist’s review of your request and the pharmacy’s records;
• authenticate users, maintain audit records and protect the platform and its kiosks;
• provide support, respond to enquiries and manage pharmacy and advertising relationships;
• monitor reliability and improve the product using aggregated or de-identified information where practical; and
• comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

We only use sensitive information for the purpose for which it was collected, a directly related purpose you would reasonably expect, with your consent, or where permitted or required by law.

6. Health information and pharmacist review

Health information is sensitive information under Australian privacy law. When you ask the pharmacist a question at the kiosk, PharmAssistAU records your topic and answers and presents them to the pharmacy team so a pharmacist can respond.

The kiosk does not give clinical advice, diagnose, recommend treatment or decide anything about your request. A pharmacist reviews every request and decides how to respond, and may ask to speak with you before giving advice. Participating pharmacists remain responsible for professional decisions within their practice. PharmAssistAU is not a substitute for a pharmacist, doctor or emergency service.

7. Automated processing

The kiosk does not use artificial intelligence to assess your answers or to recommend products. Automated steps are limited to routing your request to the pharmacy, formatting the work slip and sending status messages that a pharmacist has approved or that report the state of your request.

If a participating pharmacy enables an optional PharmAssistAU flow that uses automated product information, that output is treated as decision support for the pharmacist, not as advice to you, and this policy will describe it. We do not use customer health information to build advertising profiles. We require service providers to handle information only for contracted service purposes.

8. Who we may share information with

We may disclose information to:

• the participating pharmacy and authorised members of its team;
• service providers that support hosting, databases, text-message delivery, email, security and monitoring;
• professional advisers, insurers or auditors where reasonably necessary; and
• regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or other parties where authorised or required by law.

We do not sell personal information. We do not disclose health information to data brokers or advertisers. Brands that run campaigns on the kiosk’s idle screen receive campaign reporting only in aggregate.

9. Overseas processing

Some technology and communications providers may process or store information outside Australia, including in the United States. The location can depend on the service configuration used for a participating pharmacy. Where Australian privacy law applies, we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle personal information consistently with applicable requirements.

You can contact us for current information about the providers and locations relevant to your use of the service.

10. Security and retention

We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed for the nature of the information we handle. These include access controls, authentication, audit logging and measures intended to protect information in transit and at rest. Kiosks are paired to a pharmacy and can be reset remotely. No online service can guarantee absolute security.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably needed for the service, safety and audit requirements, dispute handling and legal obligations. Retention periods vary by information type and pharmacy workflow. Printed work slips are handled by the pharmacy under its own record-keeping practices. When information is no longer required, we take reasonable steps to delete or de-identify it.

If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme applies, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required.

11. Cookies and local storage

We use essential cookies or browser storage to maintain sessions, remember necessary application state, support security and keep a kiosk paired to its pharmacy. We do not currently use third-party advertising cookies on our public website. If that changes, we will update this policy and provide any choices required by law.

12. Access, correction and complaints

You may ask to access personal information we hold about you or request a correction. We may need to verify your identity and, in limited circumstances permitted by law, may refuse access. If we do, we will explain why where required.

To make a request or privacy complaint, email support@pharmassistau.com. Please describe your concern and the service or pharmacy involved. We aim to acknowledge complaints promptly and respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the platform, our providers or legal requirements change. The current version will always be available on this page with its last-updated date. Material changes will be communicated through an appropriate service channel where required.

Our Terms of use explain the conditions for using PharmAssistAU.