The specialist trauma counselling service contracted by national sexual assault hotline 1800 RESPECT has withdrawn from the service over concerns that private contractor Medibank Health Solutions could not guarantee confidentiality or quality of care.

In a statement explaining the withdrawal of their organisation from the national telephone counselling service, Karen Willis, head of not-for-profit Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia (RDVSA), expressed concerns about a new contract requirement to share client files with the private contractor.

1800 RESPECT is the national telephone counselling service for victims of sexual and domestic violence. Credit:Louie Douvis

"It is the view of Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia that the trust and confidence clients have placed in our organisation over the past six years could not be disrespected and undermined in this way," it says.

Medibank Health Services (MHS) has had difficulty with confidential medical data in the past when hundreds of Defence personal files were mistakenly sent to China. The service says that issue was due to a third-party error and was not part of the system that will be in place for 1800 RESPECT.