Intake, consent and patient data
How long do I have to keep patient records?
Retention periods are set by your regulator, not your software. South African practitioners generally follow HPCSA guidance of at least six years from the last entry, with longer periods for minors and specific circumstances; Australian practitioners generally follow state law and professional guidance of at least seven years, or until a minor turns 25. Confirm the current rule with your own board.
Written by the HeroMed team · Last reviewed 7 September 2026
Why this matters when choosing software
Retention is a software question as well as a legal one:
- Can the system keep records for the full period without you paying to store them twice?
- If you leave the platform, do you get a complete, readable export — including notes, documents and attachments?
- Are deleted records genuinely retrievable within the retention window, or gone?
- Are recordings — such as AI scribe audio — held to a documented, separate retention rule?
A short retention policy every practice should have
- What we hold, and why we hold it
- How long each category is kept, with the source of that rule
- Who may access it, and how access is logged
- What happens at the end of the period
- Who to notify, and how fast, if something goes wrong
Do not take this page as legal advice
Regulator guidance changes and circumstances vary. Confirm the period that applies to your discipline and jurisdiction with your board or your legal adviser, then write it down and follow it.