The system barely functions a year after it was launched and this week former AMA president Dr Mukesh Haikerwal and Dr Nathan Pinksier and two other advisers quit in frustration.
Although 690,000 Australians have signed up for an e-health record the Department of Health has admitted only 5427 patient records have been provided by doctors.
"There is less than a 0.5 per cent chance that doctors or hospitals will find something of clinical relevance if they consult these records," Australian Medical Association chief Dr Steve Hambleton said.
"There are over 600,000 blank records which are of no use to anybody," he said.
The government is loading prescription medicine information onto the e-health records, but even this has gone wrong.
Patients claim their e-health records show them using medicines for conditions they don't even have.
The Department of Health praised the doctors for their contribution to e-health and said it was now "taking the lead" from the National E-Health Transition Authority on the scheme.
It says it will take "a fresh look at the design of the PCEHR".
The e-health record was a key part of Kevin Rudd's health reforms and was meant to bring medical records into the digital age.
They are meant to list a brief patient history, allergies and medication and can be securely shared by the patient with any doctor.
The record is designed to reduce medication errors, prevent tests being ordered twice and save lives, time and money in an emergency.
But very few doctors are using the records, most have done nothing about uploading patient health summaries to the records because they don't trust the system.
Hardly any hospitals have the ability to read the records.
Despite the fact the original records are not being used, the government last month announced it was pushing ahead with roll out of new functions.
It allocated $8 million to enable patients to upload blood, urine and other test results and X-rays to their shared health summaries.
"In an emergency, having this kind of information on a patient's e-health record could save lives," Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said at the time.
A year after it was launched the Department of Health says the e-health record has moved from a design and build phase to an implementation phase.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Sue Dunlevy
Quelle/Source: NEWS.com.au, 15.08.2013
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