What is Synapse Chat?

What Synapse Chat is

Synapse Chat is a secure messaging service for verified Australian clinical professionals. It exists to solve a simple problem: when you need to reach a colleague, you should be able to trust that the person on the other end is who they say they are.

Every member of the network is reviewed by a human before they are granted access. That means when you find a colleague by name, role, or specialty, you already know they have passed the same verification you did.

What Synapse Chat helps you do

• Reach the right colleague quickly: search the verified directory by name, role, or specialty.
• Coordinate care between practitioners: discuss cases, hand over, and ask for advice using de-identified references.
• Keep communication in one trusted place: instead of personal numbers, consumer apps, or unverified channels.

What Synapse Chat is not

Synapse Chat is deliberately narrow in scope. It is not a medical device, not a medical record, and not a diagnostic or clinical-decision tool. It does not provide clinical advice and it makes no claims about clinical outcomes.

Synapse Chat is also not for emergencies. If a patient needs urgent care, use your established emergency and escalation procedures.

How communication stays secure

Messages and files are encrypted in transit and at rest, and the service is hosted on Australian infrastructure. To support legal and compliance obligations such as legal hold, Synapse holds the encryption keys, which means Synapse Chat is not end-to-end encrypted. We do not routinely scan the content of your messages.

For more detail, see How Synapse protects your data and Encryption and key custody.

The golden rule

Communicate about cases, not identities. Use de-identified references like "Bay 3" or "List 2, case 4" instead of patient names. See De-identified by default for how this works in practice.