You may need to comply with these guidelines if you intend to collect, use or disclose health information for the purpose of research, or compilation of statistics, relevant to public health or safety; or the management, funding or monitoring of a health service.
These guidelines are designed to protect the privacy of individuals in the conduct of medical research and must be used in conjunction with the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act.
The guidelines only apply in certain circumstances, such as where it is impracticable to seek consent from the individual involved for the organisation to collect, use or disclose their health information, and also that de-identified information will not achieve the purpose of the research or compilation or analysis of statistics activity.