The keeping of patient medical records in Australia is subject to various government regulations. Medical records should be kept for a minimum of 7 years after the last practitioner-patient consult.

Records relating to the treatment of children should be kept for 25 years from the date of birth. This is because in most jurisdictions a child may commence legal action 3 years after attaining adulthood i.e. age 18. Please refer to the section on Privacy and confidentiality on this website.

There is no directive that you must dispose of records once they have expired. You should also be aware whether the destruction would be contravening some other law or regulation, or perhaps your insurance requirements.

If you do plan to destroy client information, you must keep a record of the name of the individual to whom the health information related, the period covered by the case record, and the date on which it was destroyed.

Care should be taken that records are disposed of securely. They should be shredded or burnt under your supervision, to ensure it is done properly and without unauthorised disclosure of information. The records should definitely NOT be just parcelled up and sent to the tip as is, without being properly destroyed beforehand.

While the records are in your care, you must continue to ensure that they are held in safe and secure storage, even if you are no longer in practice. You can find more information in the section on Privacy and confidentiality on this website.