AI scribe consent in Australia: what patients must be told, and a form you can use today.
Recording a consultation and using AI to help document it needs the patient’s informed consent: what is recorded, where it goes, who processes it, that the clinician reviews everything, and that they can decline without it touching their care. This page sets out what the Privacy Act, state recording laws and Ahpra expect, and gives you the form PsychDispatch ships, free to print.
By PsychDispatch · Last reviewed 3 September 2026
Three sources, one conclusion: tell them, and ask first.
None of this is new law written for AI. It is the existing law applied to a recorder and a drafting tool.
The Privacy Act: tell them what you collect and why.
Health information is sensitive information under the Privacy Act 1988, and health service providers are covered regardless of size. Australian Privacy Principle 5 requires that, at or before collection, the patient is told what is being collected, why, who it may be disclosed to, and whether it goes overseas. A recorded consultation is a collection.
OAIC: the Australian Privacy PrinciplesState recording laws: consent before the recorder starts.
Each state and territory has listening or surveillance devices legislation governing the recording of a private conversation, and in several the consent of every party is required. The safe practice everywhere is the same: explicit consent, given before recording begins, noted in the record.
Legislation differs by state and territory; check yours.Ahpra: transparency, and you stay responsible.
Ahpra's guidance on artificial intelligence in healthcare expects patients to be told when AI is used in their care, expects informed consent for it, and keeps the practitioner accountable for everything that enters the record. Consent is the first of those; reviewing every draft is the third.
Ahpra: artificial intelligence in healthcareWhat a patient should be told, in the words our form uses.
These are the seven data-handling points on the PsychDispatch consent form, word for word. Each one is true because the system is built that way, which is the only reason a consent form should ever say anything.
- 01The consultation is recorded and transcribed by a secure medical transcription service on servers located in Australia. The audio is used only to produce the transcript and is not kept by the service once transcription is complete.
- 02A temporary copy of the audio is kept on the clinician's device during the session as a safeguard against connection problems, and is deleted once the transcript is complete.
- 03Identifying details, such as names, dates of birth and contact details, are removed from the transcript before it is processed by AI to help draft clinical notes and letters.
- 04The transcript and the resulting notes and letters are stored securely in Australia as part of the patient's clinical record.
- 05All AI-generated content is reviewed and approved by the treating clinician before use.
- 06No patient information is used to train AI models.
- 07The patient can decline AI-assisted documentation at any time - the clinician will take notes manually.
Thirty seconds at the start of the consult.
A suggested way to say it. Adapt it to your voice; the content is the seven points, spoken.
“I use software that records and transcribes our session so I can write my notes and letters accurately without typing while we talk. The recording is transcribed in Australia and not kept, your name and details are removed before any AI helps with the drafting, nothing about you is used to train AI, and I review everything it produces. You can say no, now or at any later visit, and it will not change your care in any way. Are you happy for me to record?”
How consent works in the product.
Consent is a record, not a checkbox: versioned, per patient, withdrawable, and printed on paper that says the same thing.
Consent is recorded per patient, with the wording version.
The in-app consent dialog records the patient's decision against the exact wording they saw (version 1.2 today). If the wording ever changes, patients who consented under the old version are asked again. A signed paper form carries the same version, so it can always be matched to what it covered.
The paper form says exactly what the dialog says.
The seven data-handling points on the printable form are the in-app wording, word for word, and a test in the product keeps them in lockstep. Whatever a patient signs, or taps, is the same promise.
Withdrawal is a click, and it holds.
Consent can be withdrawn from the patient's record at any time. Recording stops being offered for that patient, and the clinician takes notes by hand.
Every promise on the form is a mechanism, not a policy.
Australian-only transcription with no retention, a temporary on-device copy deleted after transcription, de-identification before any AI model, no-training terms with every provider, storage in Sydney, clinician review before anything is used. Each line on the form exists because the system does it.
Print it, use it, keep it on file.
The patient information and consent form, version 1.2: what the software is, why the clinician uses it, the seven points, the patient’s choice, and the signature block. Free to use in any practice, whether or not you use PsychDispatch.
Questions psychiatrists ask about consent.
Is verbal consent enough for an AI scribe, or does it need to be written?
Common practice is that informed verbal consent, documented in the record, is acceptable, and that a signed form is the stronger medico-legal position, particularly for ongoing consent across many visits. Your medical defence organisation is the authority for your circumstances. PsychDispatch records consent in the app against the wording version, and provides the printable form for practices that want a signature on file.
Does the patient have to consent at every visit?
No. Consent is given once for this and future consultations with the same clinician, and it stands until the patient withdraws it or the wording changes, at which point they are asked again. Good practice is still a brief reminder at the start of a session that the recorder is on.
What happens if the patient declines?
The clinician takes notes by hand, exactly as before, and the patient's care is unaffected. Declining, or withdrawing later, is a stated right on the form, not a footnote.
Is the recording kept?
No. The audio is transcribed on Australian infrastructure and is not kept by the transcription service once the transcript is complete. A temporary copy is held on the clinician's device during the session as a safeguard against connection problems and deleted when the transcript is done.
Is patient information used to train AI?
No. Identifying details are removed from the transcript before any AI processing, every AI provider is bound by no-training terms, and no patient information is used to train models.
Does the same consent apply to telehealth?
Yes. Recording a telehealth consultation is still recording a private conversation, so the same consent is needed before it starts, and the same information about where the recording goes applies. PsychDispatch handles in-room and telehealth consultations the same way.
Consent handled. Now the rest of the workflow.
The recorder is the first ten minutes. PsychDispatch runs the rest: the letter in your style, verified, on your letterhead, sent, and a picture of every patient that builds across visits.