The Phone A Vet app (the App) is owned and operated by Phone A Vet Pty Ltd (Phone A Vet, We, Us, Our). The App connects you, a veterinarian (You, Your, Yourself), with an animal owner so that You may practice telemedicine or provide teleadvice or teletriage in return for payment. The practice of telemedicine or providing teleadvice or teletriage via the App will be referred to from here on, sometimes, as the Service. The advice or information provided will be referred to from here on, sometimes, as the “Content” or the “Information”.

The App enables you to provide the Service and Content during a phone-video conferencing session (the Session) with the animal owner. The video conferencing function allows real-time examination (with audio) of the herd, flock or individual animal and their environment. The animal owner may also provide (upload) information that includes videos and photos so that you can help them. The Session can also be conducted via the App by verbal phone discussion (without video conference), or by using text (SMS) messaging.

You must be an Australian registered veterinarian to provide the Services via the App. Non veterinarians are excluded from providing Services via the App. You must not use non veterinarians such as veterinary nurses, receptionists or family members to provide services in your name or on your behalf via the App. The App may be used for telemedicine consultations or for providing teleadvice or teletriage. Telemedicine is the practice of veterinary medicine by a veterinarian using telecommunications technology to make medical judgements without physically attending the animal.

You can use the App to provide educational teleadvice or teletriage to anyone, anywhere at your convenience and you are free to exercise at your professional discretion how you conduct a Session. However, if you use the App to practice telemedicine then you are bound by the veterinary practice and medicine dispensing laws of the state or territory where you are licenced and where the animal resides. You must also be registered in the jurisdiction where the animal resides. This means that you may not always be able to practice telemedicine depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, and specifically, you may not be able to prescribe S4 medications using the App.

If you fear breaking the laws around telemedicine, you may choose to take the approach of using hypothetical scenarios to help the animal owner. This means the advice would be general in nature and not specific to a patient, diagnosis or treatment. The major usage of the App is expected to be where animal owners request general advice on husbandry, management, nutrition, teletriage and first aid for their animals. Telequoting for dental procedures, and telemonitoring of discharged surgical patients, are other roles for the App.

The consent of the animal owner to use telemedicine has been obtained from them during their registration process where they must agree to the Terms before using the App. The limitations to telemedicine, and the privacy and security issues in accessing veterinary services by telemedicine, are made clear in the Terms for animal owners.

You must be aware that by using this App, you are giving advice without being present with the animal to physically examine it and its environment or perform tests and checks and collect samples in the same way as when you physically attend to the animal at a veterinary surgery or veterinary hospital or on a farm, and therefore there may be an increased risk of error in clinical judgement. Before using the App, You must consider, accept and manage this risk when giving advice to an animal owner in a Session. The animal owners have accepted this risk under the terms and conditions for animal owners, however you must also manage this risk when giving advice.

The Service is only accessible by downloading the App from the Apple App Store or Google Play and then entering information about Yourself to complete the registration process. All payments are made using the third-party provider Stripe (visit stripe.com/au for more information) who provide the technical, fraud prevention, and banking infrastructure required to operate online payment systems.

Because the Session may include voice and video -conference and exchange of videos, photos, and other information, and because You and the animal owner must be able to communicate with each other clearly, the Service will be dependent on having a stable, high speed internet connection to conduct the Session. The animal owner is required to be in an area with enough lighting. If video or audio quality is inadequate for any reason, you may choose to terminate the Session and suggest an alternative plan.

Phone A Vet recognises the importance of protecting the privacy of information collected via the App, particularly information that can identify an individual. Any information provided through Your use of the App is subject to Phone A Vet’s Privacy Policy which governs the way Your information, obtained through the App, will be dealt with. Phone A Vet needs to collect such information to provide You with Services or to answer or forward any requests or enquiries. It is Phone A Vet’s intention that this policy will protect Your personal information from being dealt with in any way that is inconsistent with applicable privacy laws in Australia.

These Terms and Conditions, and the Privacy Policy, should be reviewed periodically so that You are up-to-date with any changes. Phone A Vet welcomes your comments and feedback.

What follows are the Terms and Conditions, and the Privacy Policy, referred to collectively from here on as the ‘Terms’. Please read them carefully.

You acknowledge and agree that:

Registration, acceptance of Terms, and user obligations

1.       Once You have completed the registration process, You will be a registered user of the App and will have read and agreed to be bound by the Terms.

2.       By using the App, this signifies that You have read, understood and agree to be bound by the Terms. If You do not agree with the Terms, You must not use the App.

3.       Phone A Vet reserves the right, at Phone A Vet’s discretion, to modify or remove portions of these Terms at any time.

4.       Your use of the App following the posting of changes to the Terms will be deemed Your acceptance of those changes. It is Your responsibility to review the Terms periodically and become aware of modifications.

5.       Phone A Vet reserves the right to change any of the Terms or the payment at its own discretion. Any changes to the Terms or the payment take immediate effect from the date of their publication.

6.       To use the App, You must be a registered Australian veterinarian. This means that at the time of a Session you are registered in one or more Australian states or territories to practice veterinary medicine. You must not provide Sessions to animal owners via the App if you are not registered to practice in an Australian state or territory.

7.       You must not use non veterinarians such as veterinary nurses, receptionists or family members to provide services in your name or on your behalf via the App.

8.       You must notify Phone A Vet without delay (by email to admin@phoneavet.com.au) should your veterinary registration expire, be revoked, cancelled or otherwise cease.

Your engagement with Phone A Vet

10.   You the veterinarian:

a.       are free to accept or refuse to use the Phone A Vet App and conduct Sessions.

b.       are free to exercise at your professional discretion how a Session is delivered (subject to these terms and conditions)

c.       are advised to carry appropriate veterinary professional indemnity insurance.

d.       depending on whether a 15- or 30-minute consultation has been requested by the animal owner, are paid on completion of a Session, and as long as you the veterinarian have not chosen to refund the Session, $23.00 or $46.00 AUD inclusive of GST (which is the $30.00 or $60.00 Session fee paid by the animal owner less the $7.00 or $14.00 service fee paid to Phone A Vet). 

e.       must pay your own tax and gst to the Australian Tax Office, and any superannuation if applicable, from earnings made from your use of Phone A Vet.

Limitations to Services

11.   Phone A Vet cannot guarantee that your use of the App will help You achieve any specific goals or results. Reliance on Phone A Vet Services is solely at Your own risk. Phone A Vet makes no guarantee or representation that the App service will be uninterrupted or that you will make money from the App. Therefore, Phone A Vet cannot be held liable for any damage or loss arising from Your reliance on the App or income derived by use of the App including by late supply of Services, interruption of the services, or as a result of not being able to use the App.

12.   You are giving advice without being present with the animal to physically examine it and its environment or perform tests and checks and collect samples in the same way as when an animal attends a veterinary surgery or veterinary hospital, and therefore there may be an increased risk of error in clinical judgement. You must be aware of and manage this risk when providing services to animal owners in a Session.

Interaction between animal owners and Veterinarians

13.   You will perform sufficient due diligence in gathering all possible information to enable a general or preliminary diagnosis sufficient to prescribe treatment.

14.   Whether you have practiced telemedicine or provided teleadvice or teletriage you must complete a clinical record at the end of the Session.

15.   You will civilly and respectfully interact with the animal owners and not use inappropriate language or behaviour. If You engage in threatening, abusive, intimidating, aggressive, defaming or otherwise inappropriate behaviour, Phone A Vet may cancel Your use of the App.

16.   At the end of a Session there is the option for you and the animal owner to provide feedback on each other and the App including for the animal owner to write a review.

17.   You can provide feedback to Phone A Vet Pty Ltd via the support function within the settings of Your App or directly writing to Us at admin@phoneavet.com.au

Security, permitted uses and intellectual property

18.   You must not share Your password or registration details. You must immediately notify Phone A Vet of any unauthorised use of Your password or any breach of security of which You have become aware. Use of Your password by any other person may result in the immediate cancellation of the Services. 

19.   Access and use of the App is limited, non-transferable and allows for the sole use of the App by You for the purposes of Phone A Vet and you providing the Services.

20.   Any attempt by any individual or entity to solicit login information of any other user or Phone A Vet Veterinarian or to access any such account is a violation of these Terms and privacy and security laws and laws prohibiting unfair or unethical business practices.

21.   You will only use the App for the permitted purpose and You will not:

a.       hack or break into any unauthorised area or attempt to bypass any security measure nor upload any virus or malicious code into Our network; or

b.       harvest, scrape or otherwise collect any information about Our members or animal owners for any reason, including but not limited to for sending unsolicited communications, including spam, or

c.       automate the use of the App or its Services or use any automated means (such as a scraper) to access Phone A Vet, the Content, or Services for any purpose; or

d.       use the Services or the App in connection with any commercial endeavours except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by the management of Phone A Vet; or

e.       use the Services or App for any illegal and/or unauthorised use which includes collecting email addresses of users, animal owners or other Veterinarians by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorised framing of or linking to the App; or

f.        access, attempt to access, request access not authorised by the App or use any App Content or data without Our permission; or

g.       transmit, download, upload, post, sell, rent, license, transfer, disclose, mirror, frame, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or use any aspect of the App, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means; or

h.       copy or otherwise exploit the Phone A Vet business name, trading name, domain name, trade mark, industrial design, patent, registered design or copyright, or the things, systems or processes including text, graphics, logos, button icons, video images, audio clips, App, code, scripts, design elements and interactive features that Phone A Vet uses or has developed or has had developed, without the written permission of Phone A Vet; or

i.         broadcast, republish, up-load to a third party, transmit, post, distribute, show or play in public, adapt or change in any way the Services or third-party Services for any purpose, unless otherwise provided by these Terms; or

j.         access Our networks, computers, or the Content and Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair them, or interfere with any other person's use and enjoyment; or

k.       attempt to gain unauthorised access to any Content or Services, other accounts, computer systems, or networks connected with Phone A Vet, the Content, or Services. Such unauthorised access includes, but is not limited to, using another person's login credentials to access the App.

Termination of contract

22.   Phone A Vet reserves the right to suspend, deny or terminate Your use of the App at any time without notice if:

a.       you breach any provision or intend to breach any provision of the Terms or any applicable law; or

b.       your conduct impacts the name or reputation of Phone A Vet, animal owners, other users or other Veterinarians or violates the rights of another party; or

c.       you threaten, abuse, insult, intimidate or attempt to intimidate the animal owner or Phone A Vet staff; or

d.       Phone A Vet is required to do so by law; or

e.       the provision of the Services to You is, in the opinion of Phone A Vet, no longer commercially viable.

23.   Appropriate legal action will be taken by Phone A Vet for any illegal or unauthorised use of the App.

Payments and refund policy

24.   Payment of your Fee for the Services is by Credit Card, the details of which are entered during the registration process, and payment is processed by Stripe (visit stripe.com/au for more information).

25.   Where a payment of the Fee is returned or denied, for whatever reason, or is unpaid by You for any other reason, then You are liable for any costs, including banking fees and charges.

26.   There is provision for you to refund the Session fee to the animal owner at your discretion in situations where the Session is interrupted, or you are unable to provide the Service. However, if you refund the Session fee you will not be paid or receive payment for the Session.

27.   You agree to Phone A Vet using your ABN and generating and emailing an invoice to the animal owner on your behalf and sending you a copy; and  you agree to Phone A Vet emailing to you an invoice for the Phone A Vet service fee.

Recordings, use of animal owner supplied information

28.   You must not use the text information, photos or videos uploaded by the animal owner for training, education, promotion or any other purpose without the permission of the animal owner.

29.   During the Session, which may be by video teleconference or phone conversation you may wish to video or tape record the Session in which case you must advise the animal owner of your intention to do so. You must not video or tape record the Session without the permission of the animal owner.

Service interruption

30.   Phone A Vet does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, faultless or error free. Use of Phone A Vet’s Service is dependent on mobile networks and/or the internet which may perform unpredictably at times and which may sometimes prevent access to or use of the Service. Therefore, Phone A Vet cannot be held responsible and Phone A Vet hereby excludes liability for any injury or condition which may be exacerbated by poor video or voice communications caused by insufficient network quality, lighting, bandwidth, network interruption, congestion or other technical, hardware or software failure. Phone A Vet also exclude liability for all indirect and consequential losses that may arise from Your use of or inability to use the Service.

31.   Although Phone A Vet has taken reasonable steps to make Phone A Vet’s platform secure and stable, Phone A Vet is not able to make any warranty or guarantee regarding the security and stability of Phone A Vet’s platform and Service. Use of the App and the Services is therefore at Your own risk.

32.   You are aware that standard messaging, data and other fees may be charged by Your carrier. Your carrier may prohibit or restrict certain Mobile Features, and certain Mobile Features required to use the App may be incompatible with Your carrier or mobile device. Contact Your carrier with questions regarding these issues.

Indemnity

33.   To the extent permitted by law, none of the affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, subcontractors, contributors and licensors of Phone A Vet make any express or implied representation or warranty about the Services provided by Phone A Vet. This includes:

a.       the accuracy, suitability or currency of any information on the App or provided as part of the Services.

b.       the continuity of operation, data preservation or third-party conduct.

34.   To the extent permitted by law, Phone A Vet, its affiliates, employees, and other veterinarians shall not be liable for:

a.       any actions, suits, claims, demands, liabilities, costs, expenses, loss and damage (including legal fees on a full indemnity basis) incurred, suffered or arising out of or in connection with Phone A Vet and its Services;

b.       any direct or indirect consequences of You accessing, using or transacting on the App or attempts to do so; and/or

c.       any breach of the Terms.

Disputes

35.   Any dispute arising from Your use of the Service or in relation to the operation of these Terms will be governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia and the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria, Australia and of courts entitled to hear appeals from those courts. Neither party can object to such choice of courts for any reason.

36.   If a dispute arises out of or relates to the Terms, either party may not commence any tribunal or court proceedings in relation to the dispute, unless the following clauses have been complied with:

a.       A party to the Terms claiming a dispute has arisen under the Terms, must give written notice to the other party detailing the nature of the dispute, the desired outcome and the action required to settle the dispute.

b.       On receipt of that notice by that other party, the parties to the Terms must within 14 working days of the notice endeavour in good faith to resolve the dispute expeditiously by negotiation or such other means upon which they may mutually agree.

c.       If for any reason whatsoever, 14 working days after the date of the notice, the dispute has not been resolved, the parties must either agree upon selection of a mediator or request that an appropriate mediator be appointed.

d.       The parties are equally liable for the fees and reasonable expenses of a mediator and the cost of the venue of the mediation and without limiting the foregoing undertake to pay any amounts requested by the mediator as a pre-condition to the mediation commencing. The parties must each pay their own costs associated with the mediation.

e.       The mediation will be held in Victoria, Australia.

PRIVACY POLICY

For our full Privacy Policy– (Click here) 

37.   Phone A Vet strives to ensure the security, integrity and privacy of personal information submitted to the App, and Phone A Vet review and update security measures in light of current technologies, however no data transmission over mobile networks or the internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure.

38.   In order to access the Services, You are required to register for an account through the App. As part of the registration process, or as part of Your continued use of the Services, Phone A Vet may collect personal information about You for You to take full advantage of the App and its services.

39.   The registration process to use the App includes submitting Your name, email address, address, telephone numbers, and option on receiving software and information updates and promotional material and other information. You may access and update this information at any time by logging in and going to Your account.

40.   Information is collected only when knowingly and voluntarily submitted by You. You may refuse to provide personal information, except that such refusal may prevent You from utilising some or all the services provided by the App.

41.   Phone A Vet will need to disclose or transfer Your information to entities for reasons such as backup storage, credit card payment transactions, and to allow us to provide and meet Your request for Services. Copies of information associated with use of the App, that may contain personal information, are stored as digital archives for record-keeping and back-up purposes.

42.   Phone A Vet may sometimes use Your personal information to contact You by phone, email or text about important changes to Phone A Vet’s services, planned service outages, any communication necessary for the provision of agreed services to You. If You do not agree to Phone A Vet contacting You, please write to Phone A Vet at admin@phoneavet.com.au.

43.   Credit Card details are not stored by Phone A Vet’s App but are immediately transmitted during the registration and payment processes to the Stripe payment gateway in a secure manner. This process prevents credit card details being viewed, copied, stored or otherwise accessed by Phone A Vet staff, other Veterinarians or contractors.

44.   Your personal information may be disclosed in special situations where Phone A Vet have reason to believe that doing so is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against anyone damaging, injuring, or interfering (intentionally or unintentionally) with Phone A Vet’s rights or property, users, or anyone else who could be harmed by such activities.

45.   Personal information may also be disclosed in compliance with a court order, co-operation with criminal investigations, notifiable disease and animal welfare laws and other situations in which Phone A Vet reasonably believes disclosure is required to comply with laws, and to prevent or minimise harm to personal or public safety.

46.   Phone A Vet’s employees and the Veterinarians and contractors who provide services related to Phone A Vet’s information systems are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by Phone A Vet. Therefore, Phone A Vet will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information You may transmit during use of the App and to keep this information accurate and up to date. However, Phone A Vet will not be held responsible for events arising from unauthorised access to Your personal information.

47.   If, at any time, You discover that information held about You is incorrect, You may contact Phone A Vet using the details on the App, to have the information corrected or change Your information Yourself by logging into Your user profile in the App. You as a registered user can access Your information by logging into the App and viewing Your user profile. 

48.   If Phone A Vet becomes aware of any privacy or security concerns with the App, Phone A Vet will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns.

Problems or questions

If You have any queries relating to Phone A Vet’s Terms, or You have a problem or complaint, please contact Phone A Vet by writing to admin@phoneavet.com.au Users can do this through the App – go to the “Support” heading under “Profile”.