If you already have a My Health Record, and decide you no longer want one, you can cancel it at any time. The information in your record, including any backups, will be permanently deleted from the system.
Recent changes now allow permanent deletion of a My Health Record
The ability to permanently delete My Health Record has been made available following recent changes to the My Health Records Act 2012 to strengthen the privacy and security protections within My Health Record. Read more about stronger My Health Record privacy laws.
Before cancelling your My Health Record
Take a minute to learn more about how My Health Record can help you manage your health information securely in one place and provide safer treatment, including:
- Safer treatment in an emergency by giving treating healthcare providers access to emergency contact information, allergies, medicines and immunisations added to your record.
- Control over who can see your health information, including the ability to set an access code, manage and delete documents. See a list of who has looked at your record and when.
- Helps you to remember your medical history, so you don’t need to repeat all the details when you’re seeing different healthcare providers.
» Learn more about the benefits of My Health Record
How to cancel a My Health Record
Follow these steps if you wish to cancel your My Health Record and permanently delete your information from the system.
- Log in to your My Health Record through your myGov account.
- Select the My Health Record you want to cancel. This could be your own, or someone else’s if you are their authorised representative.
- Select the 'Profile & Settings' tab.
- Select 'Profile' and navigate to the end of the page.
- Read the information, then click ‘Cancel My Health Record’.
- Read and agree to the statements, then click ‘Proceed to cancel My Health Record’.
- Choose whether you would like to receive a confirmation by email or SMS.
- Click ‘Yes, cancel this My Health Record’. Or if you change your mind you can select ‘No, take me back’.
- Read the confirmation statement and ‘Print confirmation’ if you want to print a copy.
Please note that the record deletion process is not immediate. If you wish to re-register for a new My Health Record, you must wait until the deletion process is complete.
For help to cancel a record, contact the Help line.
Cancel a My Health Record as an authorised representative
An authorised representative is responsible for managing the My Health Record of someone who cannot manage their own. This could be for their child under 14 years, or an adult who lacks the capacity to manage their own record.
If you are the only authorised representative on someone’s My Health Record, you can cancel it on their behalf. For example, if only one parent is listed on a child’s record, they can cancel that child’s record, and it will immediately be permanently deleted.
If there is more than one authorised representative (e.g. a second parent), the other representatives will have 28 days to review the decision before the record is permanently deleted.
During this time, the record will be suspended. A suspended record cannot be accessed by any authorised representatives or healthcare providers.
To cancel your My Health Record or a dependant's My Health Record in writing
You will need to complete one of the following forms:
What happens when you permanently delete your record
When you cancel a My Health Record, all information in the record, including any backups, will be permanently deleted from the system. Deleted information cannot be recovered.
It will no longer be available to you and your healthcare providers, including in an emergency.
If you delete your My Health Record and are an authorised representative for another person (such as your child), we will keep some identifying information about you so that you can continue to access that record.
Previously cancelled records
Any My Health Record that has previously been cancelled will also be permanently deleted from the system. The process to permanently delete these records started on 23 January 2019 and is expected to take up to 90 days.
Records held by your local doctor
Healthcare providers may also have copies of your medical reports stored in their own record-keeping systems. When cancelling a record, only copies uploaded to your My Health Record will be deleted. Copies stored on your healthcare provider’s own record-keeping systems will not be deleted.
Talk to your doctor to find out more about how they manage your medical information in their practice.
Re-register for a record if you change your mind
Even if you cancel your My Health Record, you can re-register for a new record if you decide you want one in the future. To get a new My Health Record:
- follow the steps to register online for a My Health Record, or
- contact the Help line
If you re-register, your new My Health Record will not contain any information from your previous record.
