Repeat script requests and AI patient privacy: what a repeat prescription email gives away in ChatGPT or Claude.

Repeat prescription requests arrive by email, portal message and phone every day. Reception staff answer them from templates, and when a message is long, emotional or awkward they paste it into ChatGPT or Claude to draft a polite reply. The message names medicines that say exactly what the patient is being treated for, and patients often add more than they would say at the desk. This page marks a routine request and shows how the reply is drafted on Ermos inside the practice.

The repeat prescription request

Sent by a patient to the practice inbox or patient portal. Reception triages it, a GP decides on the prescription, and staff reply to the patient.

An invented email. The email domain is a reserved example domain and the mobile number is masked. Hover or tap any highlighted item for the analysis; the full list is below.

What leaves the practice

1. 1
   The patient’s name, date of birth and mobile

   Identifies him and how to reach him. Personal information collected in providing a health service, so held as health information under section 6FA. Privacy Act guide.

2. 2
   An opioid

   Oxycodone is a Schedule 8 medicine. Its name against a patient says he is treated for significant pain, and the record of it is health information. Patient data guide.

3. 3
   An antipsychotic

   A medicine name that points to a mental health condition. Health information is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. Patient data guide.

4. 4
   Pharmacy and a relative collecting

   A named pharmacy, a named brother and the fact that he is not driving. Privacy Act guide.

5. 5
   A relapse disclosed in writing

   Drinking again after a separation, written because he could not say it in person. The kind of confidence Good medical practice 4.4 asks doctors and their staff to keep. Patient data guide.

6. 6
   An instruction about an ex-partner

   A request that someone specific is told nothing. The practice has to be able to honour it, which it cannot do for a copy held elsewhere. Privacy Act guide.

7. 7
   The sign-off

   A first name with nothing new in it.

8. 8
   The reception draft

   Standard wording from the practice template. Nothing in it is about his health.

What happens in Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)

• The whole document is transmitted to the provider’s servers. On personal plans the user cannot choose where it is stored or processed, and for the major providers that has generally meant outside Australia, under that country’s legal process. Some business plans offer storage in Australia, but the provider still receives the content.
• On consumer tiers, prompts can be retained and used to train future models.
• The provider’s staff and systems can reach the content under the provider’s own policies.
• Once sent, the practice no longer controls it. Retention and deletion happen on the provider’s terms.

The same document on Ermos

Part of AI data leakage in general practitioner (GP) practices. See how this works in practice: Patient messages on Ermos.

Common questions