A patient from Ballarat Health Services (BHS) was in Queensland when he suffered a heart attack. Despite being in another state, the hospital was able to access important medical information from his My Health Record and ensure the best possible treatment.
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The electronic record stores health information, including medical history, medication lists, allergy information, reports and results, in a location that can be easily accessed by the patient and health professionals.
BHS project manager Pauline Basilio said rather than replace the doctor to patient dialogue, it supplements and supports it.
“To have summary information in a centralised place that builds over your lifetime, you can imagine at some point in the future that information could potentially be lifesaving"
- Ballarat Health Services project manager Pauline Basilio
“To have summary information in a centralised place that builds over your lifetime, you can imagine at some point in the future that information could potentially be lifesaving,” she said.
BHS is receiving federal funding from Western Victoria Primary Health Network (WestVic PHN) to conduct an opt in trial, where it will offer patients assisted registration to the My Health Record from July to December. It’s one of four government-run trials nationally.
WestVic PHN chief executive Jason Trethowan said patients typically signed up in general practice and online, with the trial testing the effectiveness of registering in a hospital setting.
As of last Thursday BHS had assisted 750 patients to register. But Ms Basilio said the patient response had been slow, with some not aware of the record scheme and others approached in departments where they were too unwell.
Since its introduction, My Health Record has faced criticism over its reliability with patients able to control who can access their information and manage their own content, including deleting whole documents.
Questions have also been raised as to whether enough healthcare providers are regularly using the system for it to be effective.
“It’s a real chicken and egg thing,” Mr Trethowan said. “General practice will use the system more if they know their hospital colleagues are using it, and the hospital colleagues will use it if general practices are uploading information. It’s really the patient that’s the driver in all of this.”
BHS is inviting patients and staff to participate in focus groups to provide feedback on the trial this month.