Heidi Kraak
The Gippsland Primary Health Network has backed privacy changes to the My Health Record scheme announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt on Tuesday night.
The changes mean government agencies such as police will need a court order to access information stored in a patient’s digital record.
Mr Hunt made the announcement following concerns from medical practitioners who felt the scheme had the potential to breach patients’ privacy.
He said people who had registered and later on decided to opt out of the scheme would have their records permanently deleted whereas originally the information would have been stored for the next 130 years.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, one Latrobe Valley doctor wondered whether patients were ready for the scheme and expressed concerned about what information could be recorded on the database.
“Communication with patients is very important particularly if there’s sensitive information that’s uploaded so it can be challenging for the doctor-patient relationship if this is not discussed beforehand,” Dr Justin Kang, who works at Traralgon’s St Luke’s Medical Centre, said.
Dr Kang said some information may become detrimental to patients if doctors were not aware of the consequences of putting it on the record.
He said this was important for patients who had a history of mental illness or drug use who were treated by a medical practitioner for the first time.
“If you have a patient presenting in hospital who had a history of drug use it could be misleading to a doctor who’s treating the patient for the first time,” he said.
Meanwhile Dr Zafar Iqbal Zafar of Latrobe Medical Centre said My Health Record “could be a life-saver in case of emergency”.
Dr Zafar was confident My Health Record had enough security features to protect patients’ privacy and advised people to speak to their GP if they had concerns.
The Gippsland Primary Health Network said it was working with the Australian Digital Health Agency, which is managing My Health Record, to raise awareness about its benefits to healthcare providers and the larger community.
“Gippsland PHN will continue to provide expert advice to healthcare sectors including general practice, pharmacy, specialists and allied health professionals on accessing My Health Record, including information on how to opt-out if their patients choose not to have [their record],” the network said in a statement.
