Accreditation practice pointer: best practice for patient health records

C7.1 B Our active patient health records contain, for each active patient, their identification details, contact details, demographic, next of kin, and emergency contact information.

RACGP Standards for general practice

Patient health records provide general practice with the necessary information to contact patients and identify them correctly. Thus, it is imperative that active patient health records are accurate and complete. Each patient health record must include identification details, contact details, demographic, next of kin and emergency contact information. 

Such vital information is collected by giving new patients a form – either paper or electronic - that asks for all necessary information. Practices can then ask these forms to be recompleted annually to ensure active patient health records remain current. 

General practices might also maintain a policy addressing the management of patient health information to encourage the accuracy of active patient health records.