Information about your data

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board (the Review Board) is an independent oversight body and is committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals who access voluntary assisted dying in Queensland. The Review Board’s role is to oversee, monitor and report on the operation of voluntary assisted dying in Queensland.

The Review Board provides an important safeguard for Queenslanders by reviewing each completed voluntary assisted dying case to ensure the process complied with the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021 (the Act). It supports the safe, practical and transparent operation of voluntary assisted dying in Queensland.

The Office of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board (Office of the Review Board) provides secretariat support for the Review Board. The Office of the Review Board works closely with the Review Board to ensure the privacy of all individuals is maintained.

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board Information Management System (QVAD Review Board IMS) is an electronic system through which the forms required to access the service are completed and submitted by your authorised practitioners. The forms are submitted to the Review Board.

The Review Board collects and handles personal and health information about people for the purposes of enabling individuals to access voluntary assisted dying as required and authorised by the Act, in line with relevant privacy and record keeping laws. Personal information is collected by the Review Board when the forms are submitted through the QVAD Review Board IMS.

Information collected through QVAD Review Board IMS

QVAD Review Board IMS allows practitioners to complete and submit the forms required under the Act. To do this, your coordinating doctor will create a profile for you in the system. Your profile will include mandatory information such as your name, date of birth and address.

If you wish, you can provide extra information such as the language you speak at home and the type of accommodation that you live in, to help the Review Board learn more about the people that access voluntary assisted dying and identify opportunities to improve voluntary assisted dying in Queensland.

Your coordinating doctor, consulting doctor and administering doctor or nurse will provide the Review Board with health information about you, that is required under the Act, such as information about your diagnosis and prognosis.

The Second Request Form and Contact Person Appointment Form that you will complete as part of the process will be provided to the Review Board through QVAD Review Board IMS by your coordinating doctor. A Pharmacist from QVAD-Pharmacy, a hospital pharmacy, or a community pharmacy will also provide the Review Board with information about you when uploading the Authorised Supply Form and Authorised Disposal Form.

How your information will be used

Information about you that is submitted through the QVAD Review Board IMS will be accessed and used by:

• your coordinating doctor, consulting doctor and  if applicable, administering doctor or nurse
• the Review Board and Office of the Review Board,  to review all voluntary assisted dying requests in Queensland
• pharmacists at the statewide pharmacy service  (QVAD-Pharmacy), to assist in their role managing the voluntary assisted dying  substance
• staff  at QVAD-Support, the official care navigator service, to assist in their role  providing support, assistance and information to persons accessing VAD.

If the person makes a self-administration decision, the Review Board is required to contact the person’s nominated contact person to inform them of:

• the requirement to return any unused or remaining voluntary assisted dying substance to an authorised disposer, and
• to outline the support services available to assist the contact person to fulfil this requirement.

The Review Board may also invite contact persons to share information regarding their experience for its quality improvement and research functions.

The Review Board will use de-identified, collated information about people who access voluntary assisted dying in the annual reports the Review Board must provide to the Queensland Parliament and the public about voluntary assisted dying activity in Queensland.

To perform its statutory functions the Review Board may disclose personal information it collects when referring any identified issues to relevant entities, including the Department of Health Births, Deaths and Marriages Queensland, the Coroner’s Court of Queensland, the Office of the Health Ombudsman, the Queensland Police Service or another entity to which the Review Board refers a matter.

How your information will be stored

The Review Board takes the security of your information very seriously. All efforts have been taken to ensure that the QVAD Review Board IMS is secure and to protect the data and privacy of individuals. Only people required to view your information are authorised to access it. Security features have been built into the QVAD Review Board IMS to ensure the information held by the Review Board is secure.

Accessing your data

Your coordinating doctor, consulting doctor and administering doctor or nurse will be able to inform you about what information they have provided to the Review Board about you. You can request a copy of the forms submitted to the Review Board by your coordinating practitioner, consulting practitioner or administering practitioner.

We will not be able to delete any information that is submitted about you through the
QVAD Review Board IMS, even if you decide that you do not want to continue your voluntary assisted dying request. This is because the Review Board must store the information that it receives about all voluntary assisted dying cases, even those that do not proceed, for ten years, in line with Health Sector (Clinical Records) Retention and Disposal Schedule and in accordance with Public Records Act 2002 (Qld).

If you wish to contact the Review Board, you can email the Office of the Review Board Secretariat Office at ReviewBoard@health.qld.gov.au.

Privacy questions

For more information on how the Review Board collects, uses, shares and manages your personal information, please refer to the Queensland Health privacy policy.