# Enable Patient Delete

## Overview

By default, patient records cannot be deleted from Welkin. This protects against accidental or unauthorized data loss. The Designer includes a setting to enable patient deletion for your environment – which should only be activated after careful consideration of your data retention requirements and compliance obligations.

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## Enabling Patient Delete

1. In the Designer, navigate to **Settings** or **Patient Settings**.
2. Locate the **Enable Patient Delete** toggle.
3. Enable the toggle.
4. Create a draft and publish the change.

Once enabled, users with the appropriate permissions can delete patient records from the Care Portal.

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## Permissions Required

Enabling the setting in the Designer does not automatically allow all users to delete patients. You must also:

1. Go to **Security Policies** in the Designer.
2. Grant the **Patient Delete** permission to the appropriate roles.
3. Publish the policy change.

Only users with both the role permission and security policy access will be able to delete patient records.

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## Important Considerations

* **This action is irreversible.** Deleted patient records cannot be recovered from the Welkin UI. Ensure your organization has an appropriate backup or data retention process.
* **Compliance review** – before enabling patient delete, consult with your compliance team regarding HIPAA, state regulations, and your organization's data retention policies.
* **Audit trail** – all patient delete actions are recorded in the Data Audit log. See [Data Audit](https://welkin-health-1.gitbook.io/welkin-health-docs/admin#data-audit).

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## Disabling Patient Delete

To disable patient deletion again:

1. Navigate to **Settings** in the Designer.
2. Turn off the **Enable Patient Delete** toggle.
3. Publish the change.


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