Public health sector
Standards for records management | Retention and disposal of patient/client records | Retention and disposal of health administration records | Amendment to General Disposal Authority: Public Health Services: Patient/Client records (GDA 17) | Training | Public access arrangements for health records
Standards for records management
Under the terms of Part 2 of the State Records Act ('Records management responsibilities of public offices'), Area Health Services and other public health organisations in NSW are required to meet standards for records management that are issued by State Records.
Retention and disposal of patient/client records
In May 2004 State Records authorised the retention and disposal of patient/client records created by services within the NSW health system by issuing:
This authority replaces General Disposal Authority - Public Health Services: Patient/Client Records (GDA 5) which should no longer be used for the disposal of patient/client records.
Retention and disposal of health administration records
In June 2005 State Records authorised the retention and disposal of administrative records specific to the NSW health system, eg. public health records, Hospital Board minutes etc, by issuing:
This authority should be used in conjunction with other general retention and disposal authorities that apply to the NSW public sector, such as those applying to general administrative, personnel and financial records.
Training
State Records offers a range of short courses in records management. Courses are held in the Sydney CBD, Western Sydney and regional centres. The training calendar includes a course designed specifically for the health sector: Retention and Disposal of Public Health Sector Records.
Public access arrangements for health records
The Director-General of NSW Health has authorised access directions for records of all Public Health Organisations, the Department of Health, the Health Administration Corporation and the Ambulance Service of NSW.
This includes a direction to close all patient identifying health records for 110 years. There is an exception for records created by the former Liverpool Asylum 1890-1959 which are open to public access.
For a complete list of access directions that cover the NSW public health sector, including for finance and administration records see the Register of access directions.
