The following is a letter I e-mailed to Minister Tony Abbott a little over a week ago. In the covering note I pointed out I would like a response and that I planned to publish the letter on this site after a week or two.
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An Open Letter to Minister Tony Abbott.
11th March 2007
The Hon Tony Abbott MP
Leader of the House; Minister for Health and Ageing.
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Mr Abbott,
The Australian health system is not as safe, as efficient or as cost effective as it could and should be.
A major, but not the only reason for this is that the health sector is not using proven Information and Communication Technology effectively in order to get the benefits which have been received by virtually all other sectors of the Australian economy.
I believe this is a major policy failure of the present Government and will have electoral consequences unless addressed promptly with a coherent, inclusive and properly funded National Health IT Strategy in conjunction with an appropriate Business Plan and Implementation Strategy. Neither NEHTA nor the newly re-formed Australian Health Information Council appear to be cognisant of and focussed upon the excess costs and suffering inaction is causing. Action is required promptly.
There will be electoral consequences due to the public perceptions of wastage of many dollars on the current strategy, the lack of transparency in the evaluation and reporting of what has been achieved to date, the recognition we are slipping well behind other countries (e.g. the UK, Canada and the Netherlands) and the unacceptable number of otherwise avoidable deaths and injuries due to unsafe and inadequate systems.
The net benefits of successful implementation of such a plan would conservatively be at least five percent of national health expenditure ($4 Billion per annum), if overseas research from the US, the UK and Canada are any guide.
I have developed an internet web-log containing over 140 articles on this topic over the last 12 months and I have exposed my thinking to public criticism and review. I have found that the 200 plus expert readers are typically very supportive of my suggestions in the Health IT domain.
I would be pleased to have your officials browse my web-log for a well considered and developed set of ideas and approaches on what is needed to recruit the benefits and to move Australia forward in this very important area.
The web-log can be viewed at http://www.aushealthit.blogspot.com/ .
Yours truly,
- Signed -
(Dr) David More MB, PhD, FACHI.
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As of the time of posting no response has been received from the minister
David.
Could The Health Minister perchance reply thus:
ReplyDeleteDear David
Thank you for your letter which has been passed on to my departmental officers. I have asked them to give it every consideration and to reply to you and your readers in due course.
Although progress in e-health has not been as rapid as we might all have hoped, I am nevertheless still buoyantly optimistic for the future. My Department will continue
beavering away at solving the problems bit by bit.
We know where we are going and we are resolved to get there. That is why we established NEHTA - the National E-Health Transition Authority - which, as you may know is a joint initiative of the nine state and federal health jurisdictions.
I have also referred your letter to NEHTA and in doing so I have asked them to provide your readers with a comprehensive response to your concerns.
Yours
I think the operative words are ..........
ReplyDelete"My Department will continue beavering away at solving the problems bit by bit."
He should have said: - 'itty bitty by itty bitty'?