a good initiative at first glance.
The idea of being able to go to a doctor or hospital anywhere in the country and have them pull up your records in an instant on a computer would surely make life easier for everyone?
Or would it?
I have been thinking about this.
There is, to the best of my knowledge, nothing in my medical records that I would be concerned about any medical professional knowing. They would probably look at them and think, "A fairly boring sort of animal." I don't have anything exotic wrong with me.
But that is only "to the best of my knowledge". I have absolutely no idea what the doctors I have seen over the years have put on my record. It could be anything. It could be something like, "This animal is an absolute pest. She irritates me beyond measure." I think that is not at all likely - after all I try not to see them unless it is really essential - but how do I know?
The Senior Cat would have a long and complex history by now. He is 95 and things happen when you live that long. As I have had to provide detailed information to hospital emergency departments about him I know that being able to pull up accurate and up to date records about him would likely be useful.
And therein lies another problem. How accurate are his records? How up to date are they?
I think our current GP is probably reasonably good at keeping things up to date but I also know she had to ask me something the last time I went to visit her - something that should have been on my medical record from the beginning. It is something I, wrongly, assumed was there. It is something I should have been asked about when we first moved to the practice more than 30 years ago.
And what if this was something that should be kept highly confidential? It isn't anything like that in the least. I am not in the same position as a young refugee I know. Now in her twenties she was forced to marry a man at the age of twelve. He sexually assaulted her with such violence that she will never have children. Yes, her doctor knows but she doesn't want it available to everyone. I know because I went with her when she visited the doctor for the first time. (And yes, I asked her permission before I mentioned it here. That's how sensitive the information is.) It isn't relevant if she attends the clinic for a 'flu vaccination.
It makes me wonder whether it will stop doctors recording some information - or whether they will be less than honest about other things?
As a kitten I remember that doctors often made house calls. They were treated with the utmost respect.We were in awe of them and their knowledge. Now I call my GP by her given name and have no qualms about asking her questions. (And she can do it about other things in reverse!) That's good.
But I know that not everyone has that sort of relationship with their GP and many people don't want bouts of mental illness or hospital treatment for drug and alcohol issues widely known. Women who have been raped and assaulted often want to keep it hidden. All that would be available because, despite the supposed safeguards, these things would simply happen.
And the biggest question of all - what if the information is hacked? Yes, there are all sorts of supposed safeguards in place but the reality is that anything that can be hacked will be hacked or, as a computer whiz friend of mine said, "Look Cat if you can think about hacking it then it can be hacked."
Now, do I remove myself from the register?
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Agree about the hacking. If it's humanly made, it can be humanly broken or exploited. Every person can be corrupted for a price.
The government can say that it keeps ITS database secure but once the data has been downloaded to a different health service or hospital it is up to the hospital to be responsible for its data security. The Federal Government can wash its hands of the responsibility as soon as the data is in the hands of the State health providers. If there's a privacy breach, how do I know which health service breached it if any of myriad services may have access to the data at any one time.
I know a doctor who says the current implementation of the system is too clunky. He also raises the opposite of your question about whether the doctors' notes are accurate. Doctors are equally concerned about patients being able to access and edit their own information which may also affect accuracy and reliability of information for their future medical colleagues.
I worry that there will be a punitive measure in future to force the disadvantaged to opt in to MyHealthRecord (since the govt wants us to opt in so desperately it has made opt in the default); e.g. if you present to a public hospital, they'll refuse treatment to those unwilling to opt in to the system. The next step is to destroy all paper records. Of course this won't affect the political classes who will be able to afford the private health care of their choice or to pay for copies oftheir paper records so what would they care about the rest of us?
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