How Are Telehealth Records Shared With Your Regular GP?

A telehealth provider does not necessarily send the entire consultation record to your regular GP automatically. The telehealth doctor keeps clinical notes in the service's record system and may, with your consent and when clinically warranted, send a summary or relevant documents to your usual practice.

Sharing can occur through secure clinical messaging, a letter, a referral, a result-management process or an upload to My Health Record. These channels are not interchangeable, and no single method guarantees that every detail reaches your GP immediately.

You can support continuity by accurately naming your regular GP, confirming the practice contact details, asking what will be shared and following up if the information is important for ongoing treatment.

For an overview of remote healthcare, see Telehealth Services in Australia – Accessing Healthcare Online.

This article provides general information, not personal medical or legal advice. Urgent symptoms need appropriate immediate care; record transfer should not delay calling Triple Zero (000) or attending an emergency service.

Key Points

• The telehealth service keeps its own consultation record.
• Your regular GP may receive a clinical summary rather than the full file.
• Consent and clinical relevance guide routine sharing.
• Secure messaging is preferable to ordinary unsecured communication.
• My Health Record is a summary, not a complete medical record.
• Correct GP and practice details reduce failed delivery.
• Results and follow-up responsibilities should be made clear.
• You can request access to health information held about you.

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What Record Does the Telehealth Doctor Create?

A real-time telehealth appointment is a clinical consultation. The doctor should document relevant history, assessment, advice, treatment, prescriptions, referrals and follow-up, much as they would for an in-person appointment.

Medical Board guidance also expects notes about the technology used, significant technical problems and consent if a consultation is recorded or information is uploaded to digital health infrastructure.

The provider retains this primary record according to its legal and professional obligations. Sending a summary to another practice does not transfer ownership of or erase the original notes.

Read Are Telehealth Consultations Recorded? to distinguish clinical notes from an audio or video recording.

Is Your Regular GP Told Automatically?

Not always. A standalone telehealth service may not know who your regular GP is, may lack verified delivery details or may determine that a routine encounter does not require a handover.

The Medical Board's telehealth consultation guidelines state that, with patient consent and when clinically warranted, a doctor should inform the usual GP or other relevant practitioners about investigations, referrals, advice, treatment and prescribed medicines.

That wording recognises both continuity and privacy. It does not create an automatic copy of every note after every appointment.

If sharing matters to you, raise it before the consultation ends and ask how completion will be confirmed.

What Is Usually Included in a Clinical Summary?

A useful summary may identify the consultation date, presenting concern, important findings, working assessment, advice, medicines prescribed, tests requested, referrals and the expected follow-up.

It should contain enough context for safe ongoing care without reproducing every spoken sentence. Irrelevant personal detail should not be included merely because it was discussed.

Some documents serve a narrower purpose. A referral explains why another clinician's assessment is sought, while a pathology request tells a collection service which tests were ordered.

Ask whether the regular GP will receive a summary, a document copy or both.

Consent to Share With Your GP

Health information is sensitive. In ordinary coordinated care, a provider should explain relevant information handling and seek or rely on appropriate consent and reasonable expectations.

You can usually say that you want the summary sent, nominate a different practitioner or ask questions about what is proposed. A clinician may need to discuss limits where withholding information would create a safety issue or another law applies.

The OAIC guidance on handling health information describes collection, notice and circumstances in which a health service provider may disclose information.

Consent to treatment is related to, but not identical with, consent to send information to a nominated practice.

Secure Clinical Messaging

Secure messaging lets participating healthcare organisations exchange clinical documents using systems designed for health information. The sending service selects the correct practice or practitioner directory entry and transmits the document electronically.

Delivery can still fail because details are outdated, systems are not interoperable or the receiving practice is not connected to the same exchange. The sender should have a process for failed messages.

The Australian Digital Health Agency's secure messaging information explains its role in exchanging clinical documents between healthcare providers.

Secure messaging is a delivery channel; it does not decide what information is clinically appropriate to send.

Email, Fax and Patient-Delivered Copies

Some practices still use secure fax or approved email workflows. A provider should verify the destination and choose a method consistent with privacy, security and local policy.

Ordinary consumer email can be misaddressed, forwarded or accessed on a shared device. If a document is emailed to you, store it carefully and confirm how the GP prefers to receive it.

You may be asked to take a copy to your regular doctor. That can be practical, but it should not be the only plan for urgent clinical information.

My Health Record

My Health Record is a secure online summary of key health information. Participating healthcare providers can view and upload supported document types when authorised and clinically relevant.

It may contain prescription and dispense records, pathology reports, diagnostic imaging reports, shared health summaries, event summaries, discharge summaries and other supported documents. A telehealth consultation note is not automatically uploaded in full.

The Australian Digital Health Agency's My Health Record information explains available information, consumer controls and access history.

Privacy Controls in My Health Record

You can apply access controls, restrict particular documents and review which healthcare organisations have accessed your My Health Record. Those choices can affect what a new practice can see.

Healthcare organisations access the system for healthcare and operate under specific obligations. Emergency access has limited statutory purposes and is logged.

Read the Agency's My Health Record privacy and access guidance before assuming an upload is visible to everyone involved in your care.

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Why Accurate Practice Details Matter

Several practices can have similar names, and a GP may work at more than one location. Give the clinician the GP's full name, practice name, suburb and telephone number if available.

Do not guess an email or fax number. The telehealth service should verify its professional destination rather than relying on an unconfirmed address copied from a search result.

If your GP recently moved or retired, nominate the practice currently responsible for ongoing care. Tell the receiving practice to expect important information when appropriate.

Who Is Responsible for Test Results?

The practitioner who orders an investigation should have a reliable process for receiving, reviewing and acting on results. Copying the regular GP can support continuity but should not create an unspoken assumption that someone else took responsibility.

Before ending the appointment, ask who will contact you, the expected timeframe and what to do if no result arrives. Confirm whether your GP was copied on the request or will receive a later summary.

Seek care sooner if symptoms worsen rather than waiting for routine communication. An electronic “sent” status does not prove a clinician reviewed the information.

For follow-up limits, see When Will a Telehealth Doctor Recommend an In-Person Follow-Up?.

Medicines and Medication Reconciliation

Your regular GP should know about clinically important medicine changes, especially additions, ceased medicines, dose changes or potential interactions. A summary can assist, but your own accurate medicine list remains valuable.

Electronic prescribing and dispense information may become available through digital systems, but timing and completeness vary. Do not assume a prescription token tells your GP why a medicine was prescribed.

At the next appointment, show the GP the current packaging or list and explain what the telehealth doctor advised. Do not stop or combine medicines merely because two records appear inconsistent.

Referrals and Shared Care

If telehealth produces a specialist referral, the regular GP may benefit from knowing the reason, urgency and receiving specialist. Whether a copy is sent depends on consent, workflow and clinical need.

A specialist may later write to the referring practitioner rather than the regular GP. Clarify who is coordinating care so reports do not circulate without anyone acting on them.

For referral content, read What Information Is Included in a Specialist Referral?.

Complex or chronic conditions usually benefit from an identified clinician maintaining the overall picture.

Can You Obtain Your Own Copy?

You can ask the telehealth service for access to health information it holds about you. The process may require an identity check, written request and a description of the records sought.

The OAIC guidance on accessing health information explains the general right to request access and limited grounds for refusal.

Access is different from asking for a newly written certificate or altered note. A provider can give access in an appropriate form and may need to protect another person's privacy.

Keep your copy secure and send it only through a method accepted by the receiving practice.

What If Information Is Missing or Wrong?

Contact the telehealth service promptly and identify the specific error. Examples include the wrong medicine dose, an incorrect GP destination or a factual identity detail that does not match you.

Clinical records should not be silently rewritten to hide the original entry. The provider may add a correction, clarification or addendum in line with record-keeping requirements.

Tell your regular GP if an inaccurate summary has already arrived and ask the sender to transmit the correction through the same secure channel.

A difference of clinical opinion is not necessarily a factual record error and may require discussion between practitioners.

When You Have No Regular GP

You can still use telehealth where appropriate, but continuity planning becomes more important. Ask where to take results, who will follow up and how to obtain in-person review.

A telehealth clinician may recommend establishing care with a local GP, especially for recurring symptoms, chronic disease, preventive care or examination needs.

If you are physically unable to attend a practice, see What to Do If You're Too Sick to Visit a GP for safer options.

Repeated one-off consultations can create fragmented records even when each encounter is documented correctly.

A Practical Record-Sharing Checklist

• Give the correct GP, practice and suburb.
• Explain whether you consent to relevant sharing.
• Ask exactly what document will be sent.
• Confirm the delivery channel and likely timeframe.
• Clarify who will review tests and arrange follow-up.
• Keep your own current medicine list.
• Tell the GP to expect time-sensitive information.
• Correct delivery or identity errors promptly.

More of Our Services

Using Dociva

Dociva provides standard and extended online consultations, referral assessments and prescription services through telehealth. Record sharing from those services still depends on consent, legal authority, clinical need and the secure communication options available to the receiving practice.

Dociva currently accepts online requests for sick-leave, carer's leave, study and multi-day medical certificates. Each request is subject to an Australian registered medical practitioner's clinical assessment.

Submission does not guarantee a certificate, requested dates or communication with a nominated GP. A practitioner may decline the request or advise in-person care.

Eligible users can review the current request process through the online medical certificate application.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)