Clause 39

An auxiliary authorised officer may, during normal business hours, enter and inspect any premises or conveyance, and the facilities in the premises or conveyance, that are being used, or that the auxiliary authorised officer has reasonable cause to believe are being used, to provide any healthcare service or to store any information relating to the provision of any healthcare service, for the purpose of —

determining any person’s compliance with this Act, or any direction, notice or order issued under this Act;

determining whether any condition or restriction imposed on a licence or an approval is being complied with; or

assessing whether the practices and procedures of a licensee are in compliance with this Act or an applicable code of practice.

For the purposes of subsection (1), an auxiliary authorised officer may —

inspect and make copies of or take extracts from, or require the occupier or any person having the management or control of the premises or conveyance to provide copies of or extracts from, any book, document, record or electronic material, but not any book, document, record or electronic material that is a medical record;

inspect any apparatus, appliance, equipment or instrument used or found in the premises or conveyance;

inspect any test or procedure relating to any provision of a healthcare service that has been or is being conducted in the premises or conveyance, and inspect any article used for or in connection with the test or procedure;

inspect any blood sample, blood product, human tissue or fluid, any product of the human body, dialysate, chemical, pharmaceutical or any other substance found in the premises or conveyance;

inspect any container, article or other thing that the auxiliary authorised officer reasonably believes to contain or to have contained blood, blood product, human tissue or fluid, any product of the human body, dialysate, chemical, pharmaceutical or any other substance;

make a still or moving image or recording of the premises or conveyance and any individual, activity or thing in or on the premises or conveyance;

take into or onto the premises or conveyance any equipment and material that the auxiliary authorised officer requires for the purpose of exercising any power under this Act in relation to the premises or conveyance; and

operate electronic equipment in or on the premises or conveyance.

The power under subsection (2)(h) to operate electronic equipment in or on any premises or conveyance includes the power —

to use a disk, tape or other storage device that is in or on the premises or conveyance and can be used with the equipment or in association with the equipment;

to operate electronic equipment in or on the premises or conveyance to put the relevant data (but not any data that is a medical record) in documentary form and remove the documents so produced from the premises or conveyance; and

to operate electronic equipment in or on the premises or conveyance to transfer the relevant data (but not any data that is a medical record) to a disk, tape or other storage device that —

is brought to the premises or conveyance for the exercise of the power; or

is in or on the premises or conveyance and the use of which for that purpose has been agreed in writing by the occupier or any person having the management or control of, the premises or conveyance,and to remove the disk, tape or other storage device from those premises or that conveyance.

Any individual who is present at any premises or conveyance mentioned in subsection (1) must render all necessary assistance and cooperation to the auxiliary authorised officer as are necessary for an entry, inspection or otherwise for the exercise of his or her powers under this Act in relation to those premises or that conveyance.”.