Arguably, health has been a laggard in harnessing this innovation and we must now make up for lost time. On the other hand, there are a number of core principles that we cannot compromise on, and these include basic issues like privacy, including individuals exercising a real choice as to who they share personal information with, or whether they do so at all. When people use health services, they expect that information gained during consultations and treatment will remain confidential. Health matters are obviously extremely personal, so any abuse of the trust placed in a health provider by a consumer can cause great distress or harm. Australians expect their personal health information to be held securely, to be transferred to a third party only with permission and to be used for research, policy and health management purposes only on an anonymous basis.
Consumer trust is an essential element of health care.
These concerns are being addressed as a priority within the Health Online strategy, and in the context of the report of the Electronic Health Records Taskforce in particular. There is no doubt the health industry is on the threshold of great changes as a result of improvements in information management techniques and the use of information technology. Governments all over the world have recognised that the greater uptake of these new technologies has the power to revolutionise the ways in which health care is delivered and managed by securing improved health outcomes for consumers and improving the quality of care. Yet we run the risk that, unless we can build on the myriad of activities happening in every State and Territory and across the public and private sectors in a coherent way, we may well end up with substantial duplication and wastage of resources nationally. We are all familiar with the rail gauge fiasco of last century that resulted in incompatible railway systems being built across Australia.