Across the State there are many regional, rural and remote local governments responsible for the operation of medical practices. Such practices, whether they are run by the local government, or outsourced and operated through a contracted arrangement, are required to manage their records in accordance with the local government’s record keeping plan and with State Records Commission principles and standards. The following advice applies to local governments and their management of medical practice records.
Record keeping responsibilities and training
All employees working in local government medical practices should be made aware of their record keeping responsibilities as outlined in the local government’s record keeping plan. Local government records officers should ensure that all medical practice employees be provided with record keeping training, policies and procedures.
Retention and disposal
Retention and disposal of all records of a medical practice managed by a local government must be in accordance with the General Retention and Disposal Authority for Local Government Records (GRDALG). This includes administrative, financial, human resource, and medical / patient information related records.
Disposal freeze
All medical / patient / client records that relate to children, regardless of whether they are now adults, must be kept in accordance with the “Disposal Freeze” issued by the State Archivist on 5 April 2018. Please refer to the Disposal Freeze information on the State Records Office (SRO) website for further details. Any such records held by local governments, or a contractor must not be destroyed until further notice.
Health records relating to Aboriginal people
As outlined in the GRDALG, health care facilities must retain Aboriginal patient records indefinitely for clients with a date of birth prior to and including 1970. In addition, Aboriginal patient records created by remote clinics in the Kimberley, Pilbara, Goldfields and Midwest Health regions must also be retained indefinitely.
If a health care facility is unable to determine if a patient was of Aboriginal descent, the facility should keep evidence to demonstrate that reasonable attempts were made to research and determine this before conducting legal destruction of the record. Please contact the SRO for further advice.
Digitising medical practice records
A local government medical practice may decide to digitise and destroy hardcopy (source) records with the intention that the digital record becomes the official version. Digitisation must be done in accordance with the requirements of the Digitisation Specification before the destruction of source records as per the General Disposal Authority for Reproduced Source Records. See the Records Management Advice Digitisation of Paper Records.
Access
Public access to any medical / patient / client records held by a local government should be in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA). Policies and procedures should be in place to ensure confidential records are appropriately secured and only accessible to authorised staff. For further information about managing records containing personal information, see the Records Management Advice Retention of Personal Information.
Print this page
