1.Introduction
These terms and conditions of use are effective from 15 September 2024.
The BloodPortal is run by the National Blood Authority, an Australian Government statutory authority. We refer to the National Blood Authority as ‘NBA,’ ‘we’ or ‘us’ in these terms of use.
In these Terms of Use the words ‘you’ and ‘your’ refer to the person who registers for and uses BloodPortal.
We think of BloodPortal as a portal or gateway. You sign in to BloodPortal to let the NBA know who you are and to access online services relating to the provision of blood and blood products in Australia. These online services are known as the Blood Sector Systems (BSS).
The Blood Sector Systems include:
- Australian Bleeding Disorders Registry (ABDR)
- BloodNet
- BloodSTAR
- Jurisdictional Reports
Your access to the BSS is linked to you through BloodPortal. This happens when you request access to one of the systems.
For more information about how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information collected in the BSS, go to the NBA Privacy Policy.
Any reference to contacting the NBA in these terms and conditions refers to contacting the Blood Operations Centre via support@blood.gov.au (monitored 8am to 5:45pm AEST) or 13000 BLOOD (13000 25663, available 24 hours).
2. Why these terms of use are important
By having a BloodPortal account, you agree to these Terms and Conditions of Use.
Importantly, this means you need to know and comply with your responsibilities set out here.
If you do not comply with these Terms and Conditions of Use, you are not authorised to use BloodPortal and must refrain from accessing it. Your access to BloodPortal and associated BSS may be restricted.
3. Changes to terms of use
We may change these terms of use at any time. To continue using your BloodPortal account, you need to accept any changes to the terms and conditions of use.
Updated terms of use replace any terms of use which you have previously accepted.
4. Who can have a BloodPortal account
To have a BloodPortal account, you must be a natural person who is required to access the BSS for the purposes of your ongoing employment, or for your management of a person’s bleeding disorder.
Generally, this means you are:
- primarily located in Australia
- a health practitioner, work in healthcare, or work in an adjacent sector, and
- involved in the provision and use of blood and blood products.
If you are not sure if you should create a BloodPortal Account, you should contact us to confirm if you are eligible to create an account.
BloodPortal accounts must be linked to a unique email address and mobile number. A unique email address and mobile number is one which does not have shared ownership or is not regularly used by anyone other than you.
5. Your responsibilities
You need to understand your responsibilities when using BloodPortal.
If you do not comply with your responsibilities, we may suspend your BloodPortal account at any time. In some cases, you may face civil or criminal penalties as outlined in the Criminal Code 1995(Opens in a new tab/window) (Cth).
Follow directions, laws and requirements
You must follow the NBA’s lawful and reasonable directions in relation to use of these systems.
You must comply with relevant Commonwealth, State or Territory laws.
You must comply with the security requirements of the BSS. This includes the mandatory use of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all BSS users.
Keep your BloodPortal account safe
You are responsible for your BloodPortal account and making sure only you access it. All activities that occur under your account are your responsibility.
You must not allow someone else to sign in to or use your BloodPortal account.
You must keep your BloodPortal username, password, security questions and answers, and MFA method safe, and not share them with any other person at any time.
Provide correct and up to date information
The information you provide to the BloodPortal, such as your name and contact details, and any information you subsequently provide to these systems, must be correct to the best of your knowledge at the time the information is provided.
If there are any changes in your details, you must update these in the BSS within 14 days or contact us.
Do not access another person’s BloodPortal account
You are prohibited from accessing or performing actions using another person's BloodPortal account under any circumstances.
Review correspondence
By creating a BloodPortal account, you agree to receive all relevant correspondence. This includes correspondence on matters affecting the Australian Blood Sector, and patients under your care. This also includes notifications within any of the BSS which you request access to.
You have a responsibility to read correspondence from us in a timely manner, including news items in any of the BSS which you have access to.
We are not responsible if you do not review correspondence in a timely manner, and this impacts your ability to access or use the BSS.
If you receive any communication that is addressed to another person, or that you believe has been sent to you in error, you must inform us straight away.
Protect patient personal information
Roles within the BSS are authorised to access and use the system for certain specified purposes only. Some of these roles and their purposes are outlined in the National Policy.
You must not access or use any data, including personal information about a patient’s health and other individuals whose information is stored in the BSS, for any purpose except the purposes to which you are authorised, and which are required by your job or for your management of a person’s bleeding disorder. You must follow requirements to:
- deal with information about a patient per privacy laws that apply to your organisation and the Privacy Act 1988;(Opens in a new tab/window)
- ensure the correct entry of data;
- take all reasonable steps to ensure that a patient record is not duplicated where a record already exists about that individual;
- ensure that patient authorisations are delegated to the current Treating Medical Specialist (TMS) if you are no longer the designated TMS;
- notify us of apparent BSS problems via 13000 BLOOD (13000 25663) or by emailing support@blood.gov.au;
- allow audit of the collection, use or disclosure of information collected in the BSS, conducted by or on behalf of us; and
- ensure data security when providing patients with access, upon request, to their personal information for data correction purposes as required under the Australian Privacy Principles(Opens in a new tab/window).
Banned uses of the BSS
You are not allowed to use the BSS or your BloodPortal account to:
- participate in any illegal or fraudulent activity;
- disrupt the BSS in a way that infringes a person’s rights or prevents them from using the BSS;
- disrupt the BSS in any way that may harass, cause distress or inconvenience others;
- take actions that may in any way impact the ability for us to fulfil our duties and obligations under the National Blood Authority Act 2003;
- post or send unlawful, defamatory, offensive, or otherwise objectionable material; or
- post or send material that breaks, or encourages breaking, the law.
6. When your access can be taken away
We may archive or suspend your BloodPortal account at any time and for any reason. This includes if you do not follow your responsibilities outlined in these Terms and Conditions of Use.
We may also remove your access through BloodPortal to the other BSS at any time and for any reason.
Providing false information
If we determine that information you have provided us is false or misleading, we may revoke your access to the BSS.
Inactivation of infrequently used accounts
We may alter your BloodPortal account status when it has not been used for a certain amount of time, or upon request from an account owner.
We may inactivate your account, meaning it requires a password reset on the next login, when it has not been used after a certain amount of time.
We may do so when you have not signed in for 45 days.
Archival of inactive accounts
We may archive your account, meaning you must contact us to regain access to it. We may do so when:
- you have not signed in for 12 months; or
- you advise us that you no longer require your account.
7. BloodSTAR
AHPRA registration
When requesting access to the BloodSTAR system, some roles must provide a valid Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration number. These roles are:
- Medical Officer
- Nurse or Midwife
The registration you request access with must be valid, must belong to you and must only be associated with a single BloodPortal account.
If you hold a valid AHPRA which is supressed from the public register and you require access to BloodSTAR, you will need to contact the NBA to arrange your access.
The NBA does not have control over your AHPRA registration status or the availability of the AHPRA site. If your AHPRA status is not registered, you must contact AHPRA to resolve the matter. If there is an outage to the AHPRA site affecting your ability to access BloodSTAR, contact us.
Improper use of AHPRA registration
You may not request access to BloodSTAR using another person’s AHPRA registration. If you are found to have requested access to BloodSTAR using an AHPRA registration that does not belong to you, your access to the BSS will be suspended.
If you do not keep your personal information secure, someone could perform actions associated with your AHPRA registration, associated with your BloodSTAR access.
Changes in AHPRA registration status
If you have provided your AHPRA registration number as part of your access to BloodSTAR and the status of this AHPRA registration changes from registered to another status, your access to BloodSTAR may be suspended until such a time that your registration status returns to registered.
Ways we use your AHPRA number
Your AHPRA number and associated details are provided to Lifeblood Authorisers when you submit authorisation requests through BloodSTAR for the purposes of determining that you hold sufficient qualifications to submit a request. Where you are the listed Treating Medical Specialist, Lifeblood will also review your details to ensure you have the applicable specialty as determined by the Criteria for the clinical use of immunoglobulin in Australia(Opens in a new tab/window) to apply for treatment.
8. ABDR
Security of the ABDR
Due to the nature of information stored in the ABDR, there are additional identity verification requirements which must be met to access this system. Access requests must be verified by both the NBA and either the ABDR Steering Committee; authorised representatives of the Australian Haemophilia Centre Directors’ Organisation (AHCDO); or a Haemophilia Treatment Centre (HTC). Access may be removed at any time where improper access to or use of the ABDR is suspected.
Additional responsibilities
As an ABDR user, you are required to provide an ABDR Patient Pamphlet to each patient before their data is entered into ABDR.
9. Jurisdictional Reports
Access to Jurisdictional Reporting is provided based on approval for access by a Jurisdictional Blood Committee (JBC) Member or their proxy. Accessing, reproducing or providing Jurisdictional Reports for any purpose outside of those directed by a JBC member or their proxy is forbidden. Your access to Jurisdictional Reports will be revoked and reported to the relevant Jurisdiction if inappropriate use is detected.
10. Service Disruptions
We make reasonable efforts to ensure that the NBA’s online services are provided continuously, with minimal disruption.
We work to improve the BSS and fix defects. This means that the BSS may be taken offline or otherwise be unavailable at times. However, we cannot guarantee:
- the BSS will have no defects or errors.
- you will have uninterrupted access to the BSS.
If you cannot use BloodPortal and you need to complete a task urgently, you should contact us.
We are not responsible if a BSS notification cannot be delivered to your nominated mobile phone number or email address. Notifications may tell you about patients requiring review, successful orders or applications for blood products, or will notify you of access requests if you hold a Facility Management role at your facility. If you need assistance updating your contact details in BloodPortal, or are still not getting notifications, please contact us.
Links to other websites
Some interactive content and pages contain links to third-party sites we don’t manage.
These sites are not within the NBA’s control and may not follow the same privacy, security, or accessibility standards as the BSS. We are not responsible for the content or availability of those sites.
We provide links to third-party sites for your information and convenience only, and do not endorse material on those sites, or any associated organisation, product, or service.
11. Rights we grant you
We give you permission to use the BloodPortal service on your device, for example, your computer or mobile. This is so long as you comply with these Terms and Conditions of Use and any other applicable laws. The permission is in the form of a non-transferable, non-exclusive, revocable license.
12. Applicable Law
Access to and use of this system is subject to Commonwealth, State and Territory laws.
If these Terms and Conditions of Use are inconsistent with your obligations under law, those obligations will supersede these Terms and Conditions to the extent of the inconsistency.
13. Severability
If a provision of these Terms and Conditions of Use is not enforceable for any reason, the provision may be severed and the remainder remain enforceable.
Last updated: 15 Sep 2024