These Terms and Conditions apply to all studies set up from August 2024 onwards using the new Quote+ template for research services provided by NSW Health Pathology.

Research ser­vices could include:

  • Sam­ple collection
  • Sam­ple processing
  • Sam­ple stor­age and/or
  • Sam­ple testing

For the avoid­ance of doubt, these terms and con­di­tions does not apply to release of diag­nos­tic tissue.

 

LHD Research Services Terms and Conditions

1.     For­ma­tion of Agreement

1.1. These terms and con­di­tions apply to Quotes for research ser­vices pro­vid­ed by NSW Health Pathol­o­gy (NSWHP) to the LHD.

1.2. The LHD is tak­en to accept the Quote upon sign­ing and return­ing it to NSWHP. When this occurs, a bind­ing agree­ment is formed between the LHD and NSWHP for the pro­vi­sion of the research ser­vices stat­ed in the Quote (Ser­vices). The terms of that agree­ment (the Agree­ment) are made up of:

a. these LHD Research Ser­vices Terms and Conditions;

b. the Quote; and

c. any doc­u­ments incor­po­rat­ed by ref­er­ence in the Quote.

1.3. In the event of any ambi­gu­i­ty or con­flict between the doc­u­ments spec­i­fied in clause 1.2, the order of pri­or­i­ty will be as above.

1.4. The Agree­ment super­sedes all pri­or rep­re­sen­ta­tions, agree­ments, state­ments and under­stand­ings between the LHD and NSWHP, whether oral or in writ­ing relat­ing to the sub­ject mat­ter of the Agreement.

2. Term

The Agree­ment com­mences on the date NSWHP receives the signed Quote and con­tin­ues for the term spec­i­fied in the Quote unless oth­er­wise ter­mi­nat­ed in accor­dance with clause 11.

3. Ser­vices

NSWHP will per­form the Ser­vices to pro­fes­sion­al stan­dards and in accor­dance with all applic­a­ble laws (includ­ing with­out lim­i­ta­tion those relat­ing to pri­va­cy and work health and safe­ty) and the stan­dards and guide­lines for pathol­o­gy lab­o­ra­to­ries issued by the Nation­al Pathol­o­gy Accred­i­ta­tion Advi­so­ry Council.

4. Deliv­er­ables

NSWHP will make rea­son­able efforts to deliv­er the test results and oth­er deliv­er­ables spec­i­fied in the Quote (if any) to the LHD in accor­dance with the applic­a­ble deliv­ery dates. NSWHP will keep copies of the test results and may repro­duce and use such results for its own train­ing, qual­i­ty assur­ance, audit and record keep­ing pur­pos­es (sub­ject to com­ply­ing with its con­fi­den­tial­i­ty and pri­va­cy oblig­a­tions spec­i­fied below).

5. Col­lec­tion of sam­ples by LHD

Where the Quote spec­i­fies that the LHD is respon­si­ble for col­lect­ing sam­ples for the pur­pos­es of the Ser­vices, the LHD must:

a. ensure the sam­ples are col­lect­ed by suit­ably qual­i­fied and com­pe­tent per­son­nel using all due care and skill and are pack­aged, labelled and trans­port­ed to NSWHP in accor­dance with the instruc­tions spec­i­fied in the Quote, all applic­a­ble laws, stan­dards and guide­lines and the Project pro­to­col which has been approved by a HREC;

b. pro­vide NSWHP staff with instruc­tions for the safe use, oper­at­ing and han­dling of the sam­ples where applicable.

6. Col­lec­tion of sam­ples by NSWHP

Where the Quote spec­i­fies that NSWHP is respon­si­ble for col­lect­ing sam­ples as part of the Services:

a. the LHD must ensure that a Research Request Form is pro­vid­ed in respect of each par­tic­i­pant (which form is signed by a request­ing med­ical prac­ti­tion­er and con­tains suf­fi­cient infor­ma­tion to enable NSWHP to clear­ly iden­ti­fy the par­tic­i­pant includ­ing first name, sur­name, date of birth and sex);

b. NSWHP will ensure that the sam­ples are col­lect­ed by suit­ably qual­i­fied and com­pe­tent Per­son­nel using all due care and skill and are pack­aged, labelled and trans­port­ed to the LHD in accor­dance with the instruc­tions spec­i­fied in the Quote, all applic­a­ble laws, stan­dards and guide­lines and the Project pro­to­col which has been pro­vid­ed to NSWHP by the LHD; and

c. NSWHP per­son­nel may ter­mi­nate a col­lec­tion at any time that a par­tic­i­pant becomes aggres­sive or abusive.

7. Con­sents and approvals

Irre­spec­tive of whether sam­ples are col­lect­ed by the LHD or NSWHP for the pur­pos­es of the Ser­vices, the LHD will be sole­ly respon­si­ble for ensur­ing that all nec­es­sary autho­ri­sa­tions, con­sents and approvals (includ­ing with­out lim­i­ta­tion informed par­tic­i­pant con­sents and rel­e­vant ethics com­mit­tee approvals) to the col­lec­tion and use of those sam­ples in accor­dance with the agree­ment have been obtained.

8. Fees

The LHD must pay NSWHP the Fees for Ser­vices in the time and man­ner spec­i­fied in the Quote. If the LHD can­cels the request for Ser­vices at any time, the Project Estab­lish­ment Fees will still apply unless NSWHP agrees to waive the fee.

9. Con­fi­den­tial­i­ty

Both par­ties must hold the con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion of the oth­er in strict con­fi­dence and not dis­close it or per­mit it to be dis­closed to any per­son oth­er than those of its per­son­nel who require the con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion for the pur­pos­es of the Agree­ment. Notwith­stand­ing this, either par­ty may dis­close the other’s con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion where required by law. 

10. Pri­va­cy

Both par­ties must ensure that they com­ply with their oblig­a­tions under the Pri­va­cy and Per­son­al Infor­ma­tion Pro­tec­tion Act 1998 (NSW), Health Records and Infor­ma­tion Pri­va­cy Act 2002 (NSW) and NSW Health Pri­va­cy Man­u­al for Health Infor­ma­tion in con­nec­tion with the Services. 

11. Ter­mi­na­tion

This Agree­ment can be ter­mi­nat­ed by either par­ty in writ­ing at any time with cause (e.g. for mate­r­i­al breach), or with­out cause by giv­ing at least 14 days’ writ­ten notice to the other. 

12. Vari­a­tion

This Agree­ment can­not be var­ied by either par­ty with­out the writ­ten agree­ment of the other. 

13. Return or dis­pos­al of samples

On expi­ra­tion or ter­mi­na­tion of the Agree­ment, the sam­ples will be returned or destroyed by NSWHP in accor­dance with the instruc­tions spec­i­fied in the Quote. If no such instruc­tions are spec­i­fied, NSWHP will dis­pose of the sam­ples secure­ly and con­fi­den­tial­ly in accor­dance with its usu­al procedures.

 

More information

For fur­ther details, con­tact NSW Health Pathology’s Research Office at [email protected].