The following was released by NEHTA a few days ago.
Australia launches leading edge e-health supply chain location directory
17 March 2010.The first electronic location directory, connecting healthcare purchasers and suppliers around Australia, was officially unveiled in Melbourne and Sydney this week. The central registry, known as GS1Locatenet GLN Directory for Healthcare, will improve the speed and accuracy of supply transactions helping to reduce hospital operating costs and save lives.
The service is the result of an ongoing partnership between the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), which built the National Product Catalogue (NPC) with support from public sector health authorities, and GS1 Australia (www.gs1au.org), a member of an international not-for-profit standards and services organisation. GS1 Australia hosts the NPC.
.....
At the launch in Melbourne on 17 March 2010, NEHTA’s Head of Strategy Andrew Howard said GS1Locatenet was a major breakthrough in the development of Australia’s national e-health system replacing current manual processes with a quicker, more accurate method of transacting with suppliers.
“Receiving the right products, at the right time and in the right location has enormous safety benefits for patients, as well as massive savings for the healthcare businesses involved,” he said.
“Every year, a number of patient deaths result from incorrect prescribing. Correct ordering and timely delivery can significantly reduce this risk.”
“The electronic system also has major benefits inside a hospital making inventory management and distribution easier and improving traceability and recall procedures for sensitive goods, such as drugs.”
ENDS
Read the full release here:
http://www.nehta.gov.au/media-centre/nehta-news/618-supply-chain
You can down load an absurdly large 3 page glossy brochure from here:
http://www.gs1au.org/assets/documents/services/locatenet/s_gs1locatenet.pdf
or you can read all about it here:
http://www.gs1au.org/services/locatenet/
Let me say the actual system sounds like a very good idea and well worth implementing as it will uniquely identify (where have we heard that lately?) locations where supplies are to be delivered from a central directory.
Of course, given it seems to cost, to the organisation for each location you allocate a GLN to, one wonders just how rapid adoption will be. I guess that is why they are free unil June 2011 so you can try before you buy!
But the last four paragraphs (and especially paragraph three) of the release are arrant nonsense and reveal either a totally brain dead Head of Strategy or much more likely a very over-excitable NEHTA Communications Person.
I am at a total loss, as I am sure you are, to work out how accurate delivery of supplies will reduce incorrect prescribing! Are inventory men and store-men prescribing these days and I was not told? This is just fantastic drivel and someone should be ‘taken out and shot’ for making such ludicrous claims. E-Health needs to be delivered on the basis of fact not absurd spin. Talk about working hard to dispose of any remaining credibility!
Can someone get NEHTA back to planet earth please?
David.
I too am puzzled by Andrew Howard’s comment. The accurate delivery of supplies has nothing to do with reducing incorrect prescribing. This is just rubbish. But he is not alone in churning out meaningless verbage.
ReplyDeleteIn the Medical Observer of 19 March Shannon McKenzie reports “NEHTA set to miss deadline for identifier numbers” it is reported that “without the legislation in place, NEHTA is unable to release specifications to medical software vendors that would enable them to create software programs incorporating the healthcare identifier technology.” I think that too is rubbish. The sooner NEHTA releases the specifications the sooner the software vendors can start to work with it and that is not dependent on legislation. What they can’t do is ‘implement’ until legislation is passed.
David you lose any credibility in your arguments when you make personal attacks such as "brain dead head of Strategy...." This is not mature commentary and is crass.
ReplyDeleteNote I said it was probably a crazed PR person - but how did such nonsense get put out without the person checking it?
ReplyDeleteAs an executive, if you are quoted in a press release from your organisation, we are entitled to believe you actually checked the release. If you didn't whose problem is that?
No idea how this got out, but it is a reflection of an organisation that actually doesn't work very well.
David.
"In the Medical Observer of 19 March Shannon McKenzie reports “NEHTA set to miss deadline for identifier numbers” it is reported that “without the legislation in place, NEHTA is unable to release specifications to medical software vendors that would enable them to create software programs incorporating the healthcare identifier technology.” I think that too is rubbish."
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more, except if they have a concern that maybe the legislation may cause a change in how the identifiers are implemented, or just possibly to stop people wasting money if the legislation fails.
David.
"David you lose any credibility in your arguments when you make personal attacks such as "brain dead head of Strategy...." This is not mature commentary and is crass."
ReplyDeleteI agree. You need to remove the emotive language David - be objective, don't be rude. More will listen and you won't demean yourself in the process. Sometimes that won't be easy because what you are dealing with is incredibly frustrating and so often inexplicably stupid.
In reference to Monday, March 22, 2010 8:35:00 AM may I say:
ReplyDelete(a) it doesn't really matter if the legislation may cause a change in how the identifiers are implemented - the sooner software developers can have a closer look at the specifications (draft they may be) the better. For the legislation to be up before parliament at this time it surely means the specifications are pretty robust and well documented
(b) software vendors are quite capable of making a commercial decision regarding risk - they do not need NEHTA to 'protect' them from wasting money (quite the reverse applies). The vendors can decide how far they want to invest in something that has yet to be legislated for and they can also factor it into their thinking when planning the next lot of releases but that only applies if they have access to the specifications.
I have considered the points made about my language and have decided this is actually what I mean. These people, who are running NEHTA, are either 'asleep at the wheel' or just don't know what they are talking about. Either way they should not be running our national e-Health efforts.
ReplyDeleteTo let stuff like this out speaks to organisation dysfunction and lack of care with with truth.
It is not personal, it just reflects utter frustration with a spectacularly flawed organisation, as I see it, on my part.
Being pretty polite for the last 4 years has hardly made a difference!
I keep hoping they will do better but they keep exceeding my expectations on the downside!
David.
David, one's commentary doesn't need to be polar: either venal or "pretty polite" to be effective. Often, one can ask really searching and damining questions without resorting to the invective as you have done over time.
ReplyDeleteYou have a lot to say that is good, but you lose the impact with your choice of language and approach......think about it