The privacy and confidentiality of RFDS patients and their families must be paramount in the promotion of RFDS operations through social media. The patient must not be identifiable from information provided by the RFDS unless written consent has been given.

The following guidelines will not breach patient privacy and are in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 and National Privacy Principles 2014. 

When posting on social media about RFDS patients you should only give the following information:

  1. The general location of the incident, where RFDS will be landing and, if applicable, any road or land transport required. (Specific location must not be disclosed if small population numbers might risk patient identification. Instead give area of incident e.g. Western NSW)
  2. Scale of RFDS response (e.g. number of aircraft, composition of medical or retrieval team.)
  3. The number of patients requiring transfer by the RFDS, or expected at that time to require transfer (this may change as onsite assessment progresses). 
  4. The gender and broad age (as either ‘adult’, ‘child’, ‘teenager’, or ‘baby’) of the patients requiring transfer by the RFDS.
  5. Upon confirmation by RFDS Clinical Staff description of injuries in ‘broad’ terms can be provided and condition of patient using the following terms, either:
    • ‘Satisfactory’ (i.e. when the patient’s condition is stable and controlled);
    • ‘Serious’ (i.e. when the patient’s condition necessitates considerable on-scene intervention; this condition may be sub-classified as ‘but stable’);
    • ‘Critical’ (i.e. when the patient requires intensive treatment and/or survival is doubtful). 

FATALITIES: Details relating to the total number of people involved, dead and alive, MUST NOT be released by the RFDS. 

*Please note different state contracts exist which may enforce different policies about patient communications. Check to see if your Section is implicated.