Contents

Section 1. Introduction and role of Phone A Vet.

Section 2. Nature of the service for veterinarians.

Section 3. Eligibility, registration, and ongoing requirements.

Section 4. Clinical autonomy and professional discretion.

Section 5. Telehealth and prescribing constraints.

Section 6. Risk acknowledgement and professional responsibility.

Section 7. Records, documentation, and professional standards.

Section 8. Fees, payments, tax, and refunds.

Section 9. Interaction with animal owners and professional conduct.

Section 10. Platform use, security, and intellectual property.

Section 11. Use of recordings and animal owner supplied information.

Section 12. Service interruption and technical limitations.

Section 13. Limitation of liability.

Section 14. Indemnity and limitation of liability.

Section 15. Suspension and termination.

Section 16. Dispute resolution and governing law.

Section 17. Privacy.

Section 18. Contact, questions, and complaints.

Section 1. Introduction and role of Phone A Vet

The Phone A Vet app (the App) is owned and operated by Phone A Vet Pty Ltd (Phone A Vet).

The App provides a technology platform that connects veterinarians with animal owners for the purpose of delivering remote veterinary consultations.

Phone A Vet does not provide veterinary services and does not practise veterinary medicine. All veterinary advice, opinions, and services provided via the App are provided solely by veterinarians acting in their independent professional capacity.

Nothing in these Terms creates an employment, partnership, agency, or joint venture relationship between you and Phone A Vet. You participate in the App as an independent professional user.

Section 2. Nature of the service for veterinarians

The App provides a platform through which you may offer veterinary consultations to animal owners by video, telephone, or text-based communication.

Use of the App enables you to provide professional veterinary advice, information, tele-triage, or, where lawful and clinically appropriate, telemedicine determined by you at your sole professional discretion.

Consultations conducted via the App are remote and do not involve a physical examination of the animal, diagnostic testing, or direct assessment of the animal’s full environment. Your clinical assessment is therefore limited to the information provided by the animal owner, including verbal descriptions, responses to questions, photographs, videos, and other material submitted during the session.

You acknowledge that the quality, completeness, and accuracy of information provided by the animal owner, as well as technical factors such as connectivity, lighting, and audio or video quality, may materially affect your ability to assess the animal.

Nothing in these Terms requires you to confirm a diagnosis, provide treatment, or prescribe medication. You may limit your involvement to general advice, provisional opinions, tele-triage, or referral to in-person veterinary care where you consider it appropriate.

Section 3. Eligibility, registration, and ongoing requirements

To use the App, you must be an Australian-registered veterinarian and hold current registration in at least one Australian state or territory.

You must only provide consultations via the App where you are lawfully entitled to practise veterinary medicine in the relevant jurisdiction and where the animal is located.

You must not provide services via the App if your registration has expired, been suspended, cancelled, restricted, or is otherwise not in good standing.

You must immediately notify Phone A Vet if your registration status changes in any way that may affect your eligibility to provide services via the App.

You must not permit any non-veterinarian, including veterinary nurses, support staff, contractors, or family members, to provide services in your name or on your behalf through the App.

Section 4. Clinical autonomy and professional discretion

You retain full clinical autonomy when using the App.

You are under no obligation to accept any consultation request and may accept or decline sessions at your discretion.

You may determine how each session is conducted, including the scope of advice provided, whether to limit advice to general guidance or tele-triage, and whether to recommend in-person examination, diagnostic testing, or referral to another veterinarian or facility.

The App may allow consultations via video, telephone, or text-based messaging. You must use your professional judgement to determine whether the selected consultation modality is clinically appropriate.

Where information obtained via text-based communication alone is insufficient to safely assess the animal, you must request escalation to voice or video consultation, limit advice accordingly, or recommend in-person veterinary care.

Reliance on text-based communication alone where it is not clinically appropriate may constitute a breach of these Terms.

Any decision to diagnose, treat, or prescribe is entirely at your professional discretion and must be lawful, clinically appropriate, and consistent with your professional obligations, including jurisdictional requirements and whether an appropriate veterinarian–client–patient relationship exists.

A decision not to provide a diagnosis, treatment recommendation, or prescription, or to recommend in-person veterinary care, does not constitute a failure to provide services under these Terms.

You may terminate a session where you consider that the information available is insufficient, the clinical risk is unacceptable, or continued consultation is not appropriate.

Section 5. Telehealth and prescribing constraints

You must comply with all applicable veterinary practice, telehealth, and medicines legislation in the state or territory in which you are registered and in which the animal is located.

Use of the App does not remove or alter your professional obligations in relation to jurisdiction, scope of practice, or medicine prescribing.

You may provide telemedicine services only where you are satisfied that doing so is lawful, clinically appropriate, and consistent with professional standards, including whether an appropriate veterinarian–client–patient relationship exists.

Prescribing medication through the App is discretionary and not an expected or guaranteed outcome of a consultation. You are not required to prescribe and must not prescribe where you consider that legal, clinical, or ethical requirements are not met.

Where prescribing is not appropriate, you may limit your advice to general guidance, tele-triage, discussion of possible causes or differential diagnoses, or referral for in-person veterinary assessment.

Where there is any uncertainty regarding legal compliance, clinical risk, or adequacy of information, you may choose to use hypothetical or generalised scenarios to assist the animal owner without providing patient-specific diagnosis or treatment.

Nothing in these Terms requires you to provide services beyond those you consider lawful, clinically appropriate, and professionally defensible.

Section 6. Risk acknowledgement and professional responsibility

You acknowledge that consultations conducted via the App occur without physical examination of the animal, diagnostic testing, or direct assessment of the animal’s full environment.

As a result, there is an increased risk of incomplete assessment, misinterpretation of clinical signs, or error in clinical judgement when compared with in-person veterinary consultations.

You accept responsibility for managing this risk in accordance with your professional judgement and standards of practice, including by limiting advice, declining to provide diagnosis or treatment, or recommending in-person veterinary care where appropriate.

You acknowledge that animal owners using the App have accepted the limitations and risks of remote veterinary consultations under the animal owner Terms. This does not reduce or transfer your professional responsibility to exercise appropriate clinical caution.

You are responsible for practising within your competence, maintaining appropriate professional indemnity insurance, and complying with record-keeping, reporting, and regulatory obligations applicable to your practice.

Section 7. Records, documentation, and professional standards

You are responsible for creating and maintaining appropriate clinical records for consultations conducted via the App, in accordance with your professional obligations and applicable laws and regulations.

Clinical records should be sufficient to document the nature of the consultation, the information provided by the animal owner, the advice given, any limitations identified, and any recommendations made, including referral for in-person care where applicable.

Nothing in these Terms requires you to reach a definitive diagnosis, provide treatment, or prescribe medication. The absence of diagnostic certainty does not constitute a failure to meet professional standards where advice is limited appropriately to the information available.

You remain responsible for complying with all applicable professional, ethical, record-keeping, reporting, and notifiable disease obligations relevant to your registration and jurisdiction.

The App is not a practice management system, and Phone A Vet does not warrant that records generated or stored through the App will meet all regulatory or professional record-keeping requirements. You remain responsible for ensuring that your own record-keeping obligations are met.

Section 8. Fees, payments, tax, and refunds

Fees payable for consultations conducted via the App are determined by the consultation duration selected by the animal owner and are displayed in the App at the time the consultation is requested.

Payment for consultations is collected from the animal owner via a third-party payment provider. Subject to these Terms, you will be paid the applicable portion of the consultation fee on completion of a session, unless you elect to refund the consultation.

You acknowledge that Phone A Vet deducts a service fee from the consultation fee paid by the animal owner in consideration for providing access to the App, payment processing, and administrative services.

You are solely responsible for all tax obligations arising from payments received through your use of the App, including income tax, GST, and any superannuation obligations where applicable.

You may, at your discretion, refund a consultation fee to an animal owner where a session is materially interrupted or where you are unable to provide any meaningful advice. Where a refund is issued, you will not be paid for that session.

Nothing in these Terms guarantees any minimum income, number of consultations, or financial return from your use of the App.

Section 9. Interaction with animal owners and professional conduct

You must interact with animal owners in a professional, respectful, and courteous manner always.

You may terminate a session where an animal owner engages in abusive, threatening, intimidating, defamatory, or otherwise inappropriate behaviour, or where continued consultation is not appropriate.

You are responsible for managing consultations professionally, including setting reasonable boundaries on the scope of advice provided and the time spent during a session.

At the conclusion of a session, you and the animal owner may be invited to provide feedback or a review. You may also provide feedback to Phone A Vet through the App or by contacting Phone A Vet directly.

You must not seek to contact animal owners outside the App or encourage off-platform communication. Phone A Vet is not responsible for any interactions that occur outside the App.

You must reasonably cooperate with Phone A Vet in responding to animal owner complaints, concerns, regulatory enquiries, or internal reviews relating to consultations conducted through the App.

This includes providing timely responses, relevant clinical records, and explanations of clinical reasoning where reasonably requested.

Failure to cooperate without reasonable excuse may constitute a breach of these Terms and may result in suspension or termination of your access to the App.

Section 10. Platform use, security, and intellectual property

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your login credentials and must notify Phone A Vet immediately of any unauthorised access to or use of your account.

Access to and use of the App is limited, non-transferable, and permitted solely for the purpose of providing services to animal owners through the App in accordance with these Terms.

You must not:
– allow any other person to use your account or provide services on your behalf;
– use the App while not appropriately registered or authorised to practise;
– access, attempt to access, or interfere with systems, data, or accounts not authorised to you;
– upload or transmit malicious code or engage in conduct that may compromise the security or functionality of the App;
– scrape, harvest, collect, or use data from the App for unauthorised or commercial purposes; or
– use the App or its content in any way that is unlawful, unethical, or inconsistent with these Terms.

All intellectual property rights in the App, including software, design, content, branding, and systems, remain the property of Phone A Vet or its licensors. Nothing in these Terms grants you any ownership rights in the App or its intellectual property.

You retain ownership of your own clinical judgement and professional expertise. Phone A Vet does not claim ownership of your clinical opinions or professional advice.

Section 11. Use of recordings and animal owner supplied information

You must not use, reproduce, retain, or disclose any text, photographs, videos, or other material provided by an animal owner for training, education, research, promotion, marketing, or any other secondary purpose without the express consent of the animal owner.

Where you wish to record any part of a consultation, whether audio, video, or text-based, you must inform the animal owner and obtain their consent before making the recording.

Any recordings made must be used and stored in accordance with applicable privacy, professional, and legal obligations.

Nothing in these Terms requires you to record consultations.

Section 12. Service interruption and technical limitations

Phone A Vet does not warrant that the App or services will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or continuously available.

Use of the App is dependent on internet connectivity, telecommunications networks, device capability, lighting conditions, and other technical factors that may be outside the control of Phone A Vet or you.

Phone A Vet is not liable for any loss, injury, or damage arising from technical failures, interruptions, poor audio or video quality, insufficient bandwidth, network congestion, or other technical limitations affecting a consultation.

You acknowledge that standard messaging, data, or usage charges may be imposed by telecommunications providers and that some mobile features required to use the App may not be supported by all devices or carriers.

Section 13. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Phone A Vet does not guarantee any clinical, financial, or professional outcome arising from your use of the App.

Phone A Vet is not liable for:
– any reliance by animal owners on advice you provide;
– any clinical outcome, deterioration, or failure to improve in an animal’s condition;
– any loss of income, opportunity, or reputation arising from your use of or inability to use the App; or
– any lawful exercise by you of professional judgement, including limiting advice, refusing to diagnose or prescribe, or recommending in-person veterinary care.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

Section 14. Indemnity and limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Phone A Vet does not make, and expressly excludes, all representations, warranties, or guarantees in relation to the App or services provided through the App, whether express or implied.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Phone A Vet is not liable for any loss, damage, injury, cost, or expense suffered or incurred by you arising from or in connection with:
– your use of the App or reliance on its availability or functionality;
– any decision by you to provide advice, limit advice, decline a consultation, refuse to diagnose or prescribe, or recommend in-person veterinary care;
– the conduct, actions, or reliance of animal owners on advice provided;
– technical failures, interruptions, or limitations of the App or communications networks; or
– your compliance with professional, ethical, or legal obligations.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Phone A Vet, its directors, officers, employees, and contractors from and against any claims, demands, losses, damages, costs, or expenses (including legal costs on a full indemnity basis) arising from or related to:
– your provision of veterinary services through the App;
– any alleged breach of professional duty by you; or
– any breach by you of these Terms.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

Section 15. Suspension and termination

Phone A Vet may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access to the App at any time, without notice, where:
– you breach or intend to breach these Terms or any applicable law;
– your professional registration is suspended, cancelled, restricted, or expires;
– your conduct adversely affects animal owners, other veterinarians, or the reputation of Phone A Vet;
– you engage in abusive, threatening, misleading, or inappropriate conduct;
– Phone A Vet is required to do so by law or regulatory direction; or
– continued provision of access to the App is, in the opinion of Phone A Vet, no longer commercially viable.

– in the reasonable opinion of Phone A Vet, your conduct presents a risk to animal welfare, public trust, or the reputation of Phone A Vet, including where there are repeated or serious departures from accepted professional standards.

Nothing in this section requires Phone A Vet to make a finding of professional misconduct or to act as a disciplinary body.

You may cease using the App at any time. Termination of access does not affect rights or obligations that accrued prior to termination.

Phone A Vet may take appropriate legal action in response to unlawful or unauthorised use of the App.

Section 16. Dispute resolution and governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. You submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria, Australia and courts entitled to hear appeals from those courts.

If a dispute arises out of or in connection with these Terms or your use of the App, a party claiming a dispute has arisen must give written notice to the other party setting out the nature of the dispute, the desired outcome, and the action required to resolve the dispute.

Upon receipt of the notice, the parties must, within 14 working days, use their best endeavours to resolve the dispute in good faith by negotiation or such other means as they may agree.

If the dispute is not resolved within that period, the parties must either agree to appoint a mediator or request that an appropriate mediator be appointed. The costs of mediation, including mediator fees and venue costs, will be shared equally, and each party will bear its own legal and associated costs.

The mediation will be conducted in Victoria, Australia.

Section 17. Privacy

Phone A Vet is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information collected through the App in accordance with Australian privacy laws.

Personal information about you is collected only where knowingly and voluntarily provided, including during registration and use of the App. This information may include contact details, registration details, payment-related information, and information generated through your use of the App.

Personal information may be used and disclosed for purposes including providing access to the App, processing payments, maintaining records, complying with legal and regulatory obligations, responding to complaints or investigations, and operating and improving the App.

Personal information may also be disclosed where required or authorised by law, including in response to court orders, regulatory inquiries, notifiable disease obligations, or to prevent or minimise harm.

While reasonable steps are taken to protect personal information, no data transmission over mobile networks or the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Use of the App is therefore at your own risk.

You may access and update your personal information through your user profile or by contacting Phone A Vet.

Further details are set out in the Phone A Vet Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

Section 18. Contact, questions, and complaints

If you have any questions regarding these Terms, your use of the App, or if you wish to raise a concern or complaint, you may contact Phone A Vet through the App support function or by writing to admin@phoneavet.com.au.

Phone A Vet will take reasonable steps to review and respond to enquiries and complaints in a timely manner.