You have a legal right to a copy of your own medical records in Victoria. You do not need a lawyer, and you do not have to give a reason for asking. Which law applies depends on who holds the records.
Private providers — your GP, a specialist, a private hospital or a private clinic — are covered by the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic). Put the request in writing. There is no application fee, the provider has a maximum of 45 days to respond, and what it can charge you is capped by the Health Records Regulations 2023.
Victorian public hospitals and public health services are covered by the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic). A formal FOI request costs $34.50 and the agency has 30 days to decide. You often do not need to make one. The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner encourages public health services to release a patient's own records informally, outside the FOI process — so ask the hospital's health information manager first, and keep FOI as your fallback.
| Private provider | Public hospital or health service | |
|---|---|---|
| Who this covers | GPs, specialists, private hospitals, dentists, physiotherapists, psychologists, private clinics | Public hospitals, community health services, ambulance services, public mental health services |
| Law that applies | Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) | Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), or informal release |
| Application fee | None | $34.50 for formal FOI. Nothing for an informal request |
| Time to respond | 45 days maximum | 30 days for FOI, up to 45 if someone else must be consulted |
| Other charges | Capped by the Health Records Regulations 2023 | Access charges apply, and can be waived on hardship grounds |
| If you are refused | Health Complaints Commissioner | Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner |
Fee figures are the 2026–27 amounts. They are indexed on 1 July each year.
How do you request records from a GP, specialist or private hospital?
Write to the practice. Email is fine, and most larger practices have a form, but the request should be in writing so there is a record of the date you made it. The 45-day clock runs from when the request is received.
Include:
- your full name, date of birth and current address;
- any previous name the records may be under;
- the dates or period of treatment you want covered;
- what you want — the complete record, not a summary, if that is what you need; and
- the format you want it in, such as a copy by post, a digital copy, or an appointment to view the file.
You will usually be asked to prove who you are. That is normal and appropriate.
Ask for the full record rather than a summary. A provider can offer you a written summary instead of the documents themselves, and a summary is a doctor's account of what happened rather than the contemporaneous notes. If something went wrong, the detail that matters is usually in the original notes, not in a summary written afterwards.
How do you get records from a Victorian public hospital?
Start with the hospital's health information service, sometimes called medical records or health information management. Most Victorian public hospitals publish a request form on their website.
Ask for the records informally first. This is the step most people miss. The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner has told agencies that requests for health records should be handled informally by default, and that formal FOI should be reserved for cases where the applicant prefers it, or where there are sensitivities, planned redactions or a statutory secrecy provision in play. An informal release avoids the $34.50 fee and the 30-day statutory timeline.
If the hospital declines to release the records informally, make a formal FOI request. It must be in writing, describe the documents clearly enough for them to be identified, and be accompanied by the application fee unless you are asking for it to be waived.
The fee can be waived or reduced for hardship. A concession or health care card, bank statements, or a statutory declaration explaining the difficulty are the kinds of evidence that support a waiver request. Ask at the time you apply rather than afterwards.
What can they charge you?
A private provider cannot charge whatever it likes. The Health Records Regulations 2023 set maximum amounts, calculated in fee units. For 2026–27 a fee unit is $17.27, which produces these caps:
| What is being charged for | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Supervising you while you inspect your record | $20.70 per half hour |
| Photocopying | 20 cents per A4 black and white page |
| Assessing and collating the information | $43.20 |
| Preparing a written summary | $50.10 per quarter hour, to a maximum of $162.30 |
The provider must tell you in writing what the fee will be before charging it. Once you pay, it must give you access within 7 days.
If you are quoted an amount that looks well above these caps, say so and ask for the charge to be itemised against the Regulations.
What records should you actually ask for?
Most people ask for "my file" and receive the treating doctor's consultation notes. In a hospital admission the notes are only part of the picture, and the documents that explain what happened are often held in separate systems.
Consider asking specifically for:
- the complete inpatient record for each admission, including nursing notes and observation charts;
- operation reports and anaesthetic records;
- pathology results and the reports that interpret them;
- imaging reports, and the images themselves where relevant;
- medication and fluid balance charts;
- referral letters and discharge summaries, in both directions;
- consent forms and any pre-operative documentation;
- emergency department triage and observation records; and
- correspondence between treating practitioners about your care.
Imaging is worth a separate mention. The radiology report is a written interpretation, and the actual images are usually held by the radiology provider rather than the hospital. If the images matter, request them from the provider that took them and ask for them in DICOM format.
What if they refuse, or never reply?
A refusal has to be explained to you in writing. Access can be refused where giving it would pose a serious threat to the life or health of any person, or where the information was given in confidence by someone else on the understanding that it would not be passed on to you. Those grounds are narrower than they sound, and inconvenience or embarrassment is not one of them.
Where the refusal is based on a threat to health or safety, you can nominate another health service provider to review the decision and receive the information on your behalf.
If a private provider refuses, delays past 45 days, or overcharges, the Health Complaints Commissioner handles complaints about health records in Victoria. If a public health service refuses an FOI request, you can apply to the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner for an independent review of the decision, and separately complain about how the request was handled.
Why your records decide whether a claim can be assessed
No one can tell you whether care fell below the standard by listening to what happened. The record is the evidence. Whether a diagnosis was reasonable, whether a warning sign was noted and acted on, whether a drug was charted at the right dose — all of it is decided on the documents.
That is also why getting the records early matters. Time limits run from when you knew or ought to have known that you had a claim, not from when you finally obtained the file. Requesting records does not pause the clock. You can read more in Time limits for medical negligence claims and How to establish a medical negligence claim.
Organising and reviewing a large hospital file is the expensive part of investigating a claim, and it is the reason some claims are turned away before anyone looks closely at them. Our technology does that organising work, and our lawyers review the evidence and make every legal decision. If you already have your records, send them. If you do not, that is not a reason to wait — start a free assessment and you will be told what to request and from whom.
Common questions
How long does it take to get your medical records in Victoria?
A private provider has a maximum of 45 days to respond. Once it tells you in writing what the fee will be, it must give you access within 7 days of payment. A public health service handling a formal FOI request has 30 days to decide, extending to 45 where another person has to be consulted. An informal request to a public hospital is often faster, because no statutory process applies to it.
How much does it cost to get your medical records?
There is no application fee for a request to a private provider, though it may charge for the work involved up to the caps set by the Health Records Regulations 2023. A formal FOI request to a public health service carries a $34.50 application fee, which can be waived or reduced on hardship grounds.
Can a doctor or hospital refuse to give you your records?
Access can be refused in limited circumstances, and the refusal must be given to you in writing with reasons. The main grounds are that giving access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of any person, or that the information was given in confidence by someone else on the understanding it would not be disclosed to you. Where a refusal is based on a threat to health or safety, you can nominate another health service provider to review the decision. Disagreements about a private provider can be taken to the Health Complaints Commissioner, and a Freedom of Information decision by a public health service can be reviewed by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.
Do you need a lawyer or a reason to ask?
No. The right of access belongs to you as the patient, and you do not have to explain why you want your records or say that you are considering a claim. Asking for your records is not a complaint and does not start legal action. You can make the request yourself, and many people do so before they have spoken to any lawyer.
How far back do medical records go?
Under the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) a provider must keep health information for at least 7 years from the date it last provided a health service to you. If you were last treated as a child, the record must be kept until you turn 25. Records older than those periods may have been lawfully destroyed, so it is worth requesting them sooner rather than later if something may have gone wrong.
Can you get the records of a family member who has died?
Access to a deceased person's health information is generally available to their legal personal representative, meaning the executor or administrator of the estate. The position differs depending on who holds the records and what is being sought, so it is worth confirming the requirements with the provider or the Health Complaints Commissioner before applying.
Sources
- Health Records Act 2001 (Vic)
- Health Complaints Commissioner Victoria — Health records: Individuals
- Health Complaints Commissioner Victoria — Determining fees under the Health Records Act
- Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner — Release of health records held by Victorian public sector agencies
- Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner — Find and request access to information
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic)