My Health Record in general practice

Clinical content

State-based legislation

Last revised: 18 Apr 2023

State-based legislation

The legal authority to upload to My Health Record is subject to two exceptions:  

  1. where the healthcare recipient instructs the healthcare provider not to upload the information  
  1. where the healthcare organisation is required by certain confidentiality provisions of the Public Health Act of New South Wales, Queensland or the Australian Capital Territory to obtain consent due to the nature of the health information.  

The My Health Records Act recognises that under some state and territory laws consent must be given expressly, or in a particular way, before information related to specific areas of health is disclosed.  

The state and territory laws which have applicable consent requirements regarding the disclosure of health information are listed in section 3.1.1 of the My Health Records Regulation 2012. If the provision of a state or territory law is listed, then the consent requirements of those provisions must be met before the relevant health information can be uploaded to My Health Record.  

In NSW, a healthcare organisation cannot upload information to My Health Record if it identifies that an individual has been or will be tested for HIV, has HIV, or had HIV, unless that individual has given consent for this to occur. 
 

 A healthcare organisation cannot, “without good reason”, upload information to My Health Record if it identifies: 

  • that an individual has a notifiable condition, unless that individual has given written consent for this to occur 
  • the person who reported a notifiable condition to ACT Health, unless the reporter has given written consent 
  • the pathology laboratory or hospital at which the notifiable condition was identified, unless the person in charge of the laboratory/hospital has given written consent. 

ACT’s notifiable conditions are listed here.  

A healthcare organisation cannot upload information to My Health Record if the information was obtained by a person as part of administering:  

  • the Environmental Health Event Register 
  • the Notifiable Conditions Register 
  • the rules regarding contagious conditions in schools and education and care services  
  • the collection of perinatal statistics 
  • the Cancer Register, 

unless the individual to whom the information relates (or the child’s parent/guardian) has given written consent. 

If the information was obtained by person as part of performing the duties of a contact tracing officer, it cannot be uploaded unless the individual to whom the information relates has given written or verbal consent. 

Qld’s notifiable and contagious conditions are listed here.

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