So the Federal Government intend to take over the currently State run, health care system.

Good luck with that. Clearly it’s escaped their attention that their own guys, i.e. Labor, have been running the health system for the last umpteen years, and have done nothing but make a big fat, hot mess of it.

Plus the only plan I can really see in place at the moment, is to take money off the states (seeing as they won’t be needing it any more) and to tax the shit out of the general taxpayer to make sure there are more localised committees to oversee everything. More groups of people sitting around discussing the shite state of affairs, why didn’t I think of that?

This is not about the doctors or the nurses. They are well trained, highly educated individuals. Sure, some, maybe 5%, could do with a swift kick up the arse for their bedside manner and attitudes, but that’s in every profession. They, the medical staff, are doing the very best they can, in the situation they are provided with.

And quite frankly, that situation, is why the Health Care and Hospital system in Australia sucks the big one.

In the last 8 months, I have seen quite a bit of the inside of a the local Queensland Public Hospital. And when I say inside, I mean the Emergency Department, the general wards, the paediatric wards, Surgery outpatients, X-ray and Orthopaedic divisions.  So from my point of view, i.e. The carer, or family of a loved one being treated, I can tell you, your communication and data systems suck and are of no use.

The issue is communication and the antiquated system with which our medical professionals are equipped to handle each case with. Often times, messages are written on bits of paper or in notes that no one bothers to flick back through. I cannot understand why there is not a computerised system whereby each Australian citizen is identified by their medicare number and all of their medical history is accessible. Oh wait I can. It’s because there’s not enough money. Really? Really? So this (see picture) 2.5 million dollar “artwork” is paid for by the same government who cannot afford to provide computerised systems ? The same government who just paid a truck load to the performer Pink so she will be the face of a motorcar race? It appears so.

Regardless of state. Regardless of level of medical care i.e. radiology, emergency care, hospital admission, blood cultures and just everyday GP visits, there should be a system that collates this information and makes it available to medical staff at any one time.

To be honest, I hadn’t had a lot to do with Queensland Health as such, until August of last year. That was when my 75 year old mother found out, from seemingly no-where, that she had cancer. And it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. After many frustrating experiences, I penned this letter to Anna Bligh which you can read here:
http://bernmorley.blogspot.com/2009/09/open-letter-to-qld-premier-anna-bligh.html

It got Annas attention. We spoke and she said she took on board my recommendations of patient managers. (Basically staff that were in charge of a set number of patients. A go-to person if you like, that all staff and family knew to contact to gain information) She said it would be perfect for retired or burnt out paramedics. Then my mother passed away. After that, lets just say, I didn’t have the time, nor the strength to follow her up on her promises. I’m guessing now that the power is about to be wrenched from her grip, Ms Blighs attention to the matter would be somewhat thin at best.

Here is a short list of major incidents that have happened to me or my family that could have been solved or enhanced by a record sharing system.

1. My mother being on one floor of the hospital getting a stent in her bowel (that none of family had been consulted about) and basically being Missing in Action from her general ward for ten hours, because a) no note was made where she was b) the colonoscopy/stent surgical area were not answering their phone (all day) and c) no one could be arsed walking the 6 floors down to double check.

2. Getting three very strongly worded and almost threatening messages from the orthopaedic outpatient receptionist because my 7yo missed an appointment. We missed the appointment because were in their facility, i.e. the hospital. As an inpatient. The information of which, if they had a decent system, they would have been able to access.

3. The reason for the my sons admission into hospital was an infection in a broken arm from the surgery performed at that hospital. When we were discharged, he was prescribed antibiotics to keep the infection at bay. The removal of the wires (source of infection) was to be done earlier than usual as a result of the infection. At a pre-admission appointment, 7 days later, we were asked if he was on any medication. My response was just the antibiotics the hospital i.e. they had prescribed. The nurse, flicked through her file, but still had no idea what I was talking about. Neither did the doctor I saw not 10 minutes later.

4. On the initial admission to the ER after my son shattered his arm at school, a doctor saw him, wrote up some heavy duty pain relief as was in a mountain of pain. He didn’t put it in the correct place, he came back an hour later and realised my son had been in agony for that long because he didn’t file it accordingly.

5. My mother was about to go into for brain surgery when the nurse started quenstioning Mum about how long she'd been a Jehovahs' Witness. Mum was confused. So was I. Mum was an Anglican. I spoke up and asked why she would ask that. The nurse replied because she was down as "no blood transfusion due to religious reasons".
So, if this happens to just one family, in one hospital, what’s going on everywhere else? Does it not make sense to have every doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, dietician, occupational therapist and everyone in between, to own a palm held computer that contains every single patient under that persons care, information with alerts and updates?

Like I said above, I’m well aware, this would not be cheap. But I would be a hell of a lot happier to know my GST, my income tax, my rego, my stamp duty etc, etc was going towards something that would benefit everyone in Australia.

Other ways to improve the system would be to partially fund doctors and nurses education. On the proviso they stay with the public health system for a certain amount of time. (Obviously based on conduct and performance).  Stop Talking Kev because it sounds insincere. I’m not of any particular political persuasion. I’m actually naive enough to wish for a society where we are governed by people who want to do the right thing by its people, and not the person who lines their pocket.

And to be honest, Australia has had enough of you guys sitting in parliament, fighting like petulant children, throwing insults and jibes at each other and achieving zero. If you were children in a classroom, you would be silenced and disciplined. The sad state of affairs here is that no one is there to tell you guys to shut the hell up and just do what’s best for the people of Australia. Because that is where your job starts and ends.