Tasmanian Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support

A specialist family and sexual violence support service for every General Practice and Aboriginal Medical Service in Tasmania.

Delivered by Tasmania’s specialist family and sexual violence services:

It is free, and easy to access.

CONTACT A SUPPORT SPECIALIST ON (03) 6268 1663
(Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm)

OR COMPLETE THE PCFSV CALL BACK REQUEST FORM BELOW.

We support your practice to:

Spot the signs of family and sexual violence (including child sexual abuse)
Ask the right questions about FSV
Validate disclosures of FSV
Assess FSV patient risk
Document FSV to meet legal requirements and practice standards
Act to prevent harm, ensure patient safety, and provide ongoing care – including intensive assistance from PCFSV support to ‘close the referral loop’ for patients experiencing FSV.

Every week, on average, a Tasmanian primary care practice will see at least five (5) patients who are currently experiencing family and sexual violence, including child sexual abuse.

If you suspect a patient, or their children, is experiencing family or sexual violence, ask the question and help them take action. If you don’t, who will? It could save a life.

Call Back Request form
More detail about PCFSV Support

Call Back Request for Primary Care FSV Support

All enquiries are held in the strictest confidence. Please note this Call Back Request Form is only for General Practices and Aboriginal Medical Services. If you are a person requiring individual support, please complete the Engender Equality Contact Form or contact your local sexual violence service by calling 1800 697 877 (this will reach Laurel House in the North or North West and SASS in the South).

We will call you back the next working day after receiving the following form. If your enquiry is during business hours (8:30am - 4:30pm Monday-Friday), you can also call us on (03) 6268-1663. If you have an assigned PCFSV Support Specialist, you can also call them or email them directly.

Type of Enquiry

Advice or information about FSV in primary care

Organise a free FSV capacity building session

Support for a patient requiring FSV referrals

Feedback or complaint

Other

Name of General Practice or AMS(Required)

Practice Contact Name(Required)

Phone number(Required)

Message(Required)

Please leave as much detail as possible including the best time to contact you

Terms & Conditions(Required)

Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with Primary Care FSV Support's Terms & Conditions.

Terms & Conditions for PCFSV Information Provided Online

Data collection
Engender Equality is committed to protecting your privacy and offering secure and confidential services. We encourage you to take whatever steps you need to, to feel safe and comfortable whilst accessing our services. To find out more, read our privacy information below:

We record data and store information according to Engender Equality’s Privacy Policy.

Privacy Policy
Engender Equality recognises that any sensitive information, which has been disclosed to us, needs special care and protection. We are required by law, as detailed in the Privacy Act 1988 (“The Act”), to comply with a strict code of conduct to maintain the privacy of all personal information on record. This Privacy Policy complies with the privacy principles set out in the Act and explains how we apply them in practice. Where applicable, we also comply with the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012 (Cth), the Personal Information Protection Act 2004 (Tas) and the Personal Information Protection Principles under that Act, and any other applicable Law relating to privacy.

Personal and sensitive Information
We may collect the following personal and sensitive information and undertake to hold it in a secure manner.

• Name and title
• Full contact details
• Personal opinions and comments on matters held on record
• Information about third parties provided by you if this information has been provided with their consent to share it with us
• And other documentary information

Collection
This information may be collected directly from correspondence, phone calls and emails.

Engender Equality undertakes to maintain a high quality of data on record and to update that information as appropriate to the function it serves. Additional personal information will only be collected if necessary to maintaining a high standard of service to members and the community at large, and the individuals involved will be consulted by the means specified in the Act. Additional sensitive information as defined in the Act, will only be collected with the consent of individuals involved and in accordance with the Act.

Disclosure
The information will only be used within Engender Equality for the purpose for which it was collected and in accordance with the Act. Engender Equality may share information in relation to the Tasmanian Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support with its subcontractors Laurel House and SASS in order to support the delivery of the program. Otherwise, Engender Equality will not disclose to a third party, any personal or sensitive information without written consent of the individual concerned.

In the event of a formal ethical complaint against an individual pertaining to conduct, competency or breaches of the law, Engender Equality may be obliged to disclose personal information to an appropriate third party in accordance with the Act.

Security of Information
The entire process of collection, storage, transfer and use of personal information will be undertaken in a secure manner such that it fully protects all personal and sensitive information. On the cessation of connection with Engender Equality, the personal information will be held securely for as long as it is prudent and disposed of appropriately when the information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and in a manner specified by the Act.

Access and Correction
Individuals are entitled to access their own personal and sensitive information held by Engender Equality. Individuals are also entitled to change incorrect or out of date information. The request for access to personal information must be made in writing and the request will be processed in accordance with the Act.

Anonymity
Where lawful and practical, Engender Equality will offer the option for anonymity when providing personal information in the process of transacting Engender Equality services.

Primary Health Tasmania and SAX Institute
Engender Equality is required to collect de-identified performance data associated with the Primary Care FSV Support Program and report to Primary Health Tasmania (PHT) and external evaluators. Engender Equality is also required to report to PHT in certain circumstances where a serious incident has occurred. For further information, please contact us.

Identifiers
Engender Equality will not use identifiers assigned by government bodies and agencies. Many health-related practitioners/services are required to use Government identifiers like Medicare numbers, Centrelink reference numbers, drivers license or passport numbers to ID people.

How to make a complaint about breach of privacy
We will take all due care to make sure that breaches of privacy will not occur but if you do have a complaint it is very important that you let us know. Please contact Engender Equality directly.

Viruses
While Engender Equality will take all reasonable care to keep their computers virus-free, we accept no liability for the transfer of viruses or other virus behaviours which are outside our control.

Prohibited
While accessing Engender Equality’s services, you must not:

• abuse, harass, threaten, defame or violate the rights of others – this includes rights relating to privacy and publicity
• transmit, email, publish or disseminate any unlawful, obscene, defamatory, indecent or offensive material
• engage in any activity for commercial gain, including marketing, advertising or promoting goods and services, data mining or using other online data collection devices
• represent yourself or an organisation falsely
• send spam or unsolicited emails
• record, screenshot or transmit any element of the phone or internet interactions
• transmit by any electronic means (post or link to) information that contains viruses, Trojans, worms or any item designed to destroy the functionality of another computer system’s software or hardware or to use the other computer system for improper purposes.

The breach of any of the above will result in termination of counselling support agreement and referral to authorities if appropriate.

Client Records Policy
Please contact us for a copy of our Client Records Policy.

I agree to the Terms & Conditions

Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence Support (PCFSVS) is a free, integrated and specialist service to help Tasmanian General Practices (GPs) and Aboriginal Medical Services (AMSs) address family and sexual violence (including child sexual abuse) experienced by their patients and communities.

The support service is jointly run by three of Tasmania’s specialist family and sexual violence support services: Engender Equality; Sexual Assault Support Service; and Laurel House. It’s funded by Primary Health Tasmania.

The support service is needed because:

At least 28% of Tasmanian women have experienced sexual and/or intimate partner violence (ABS, Personal Safety Survey, 2021-22) and about the same proportion of all Tasmanians have experienced child sexual abuse (Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2023).
Statistically, it is almost certain that every primary care practice in Tasmania has many patients who are, or have, experienced family and sexual violence.
The RACGP has found that the most frequent first point of contact for victims/survivors of family violence or sexual assault is a doctor or hospital, and that “this initial contact is important in a patient’s decision to address the violence”.
Estimates are that every week, a general practitioner (GP) sees up to five (5) women who are being abused by their partners.
Often, the doctor, nurse or another general practice staff member may be the only person with whom the victim-survivor shares their abuse. These victim-survivors require support from primary care providers to detect, prevent, respond to, and/or recover and heal from this violence and abuse.
Often, GPs and AMSs are unsure how to best support their patients who are victim-survivors of family and sexual violence, or what services are available. This can create serious risks for practices and patients.

PCFSVS does three main things:

It helps GPs and AMSs to appropriately identify and provide support for their patients (and their patients’ families) experiencing family and sexual violence, including child sexual abuse.
It helps GPs and AMSs to complete effective referrals for their patients to support services, including to meet their legal responsibilities and quality standards.
It helps specialist family and sexual violence services to work effectively with GPs and AMSs, including to ‘close the referral loop’.

GPs and AMSs can get help by:

Phoning the Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence Support Line on (03) 6268 1663
Making on online inquiry or call back request
Using the Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence Support Resources, available from a Support Specialist
Directly contacting their local PCFSV Support Specialist via mobile phone, SMS or email (after initial introduction).

Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support is funded by Primary Health Tasmania (Tasmania PHN) through the Australian Government’s Primary Health Networks Program.