MY HEALTH RECORD TO GO UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

22 August 2018

Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon has called on Novocastrians to have their say in a Parliamentary inquiry into the My Health Record eHealth initiative, after personally opting out of the beleaguered system.Many constituents have contacted me in recent weeks with grave concerns about the privacy and security implications of My Health Record, Ms Claydon said. Labor has successfully launched an inquiry in the initiative and I would encourage Novocastrians to have their say by putting in a submission. Ms Claydon said that while she supported to the principle of eHealth records, she wasnt confident it was being run properly, and had personally decided to opt out. I made the decision to opt-out of the program until the Government gets it right, Ms Claydon said Done properly, eHealth records have the potential to dramatically reduce errors, improve diagnosis and save the health system billions, but frankly I dont trust this government to get it right. Im particularly concerned about data security and the conditions under which third parties, especially commercial operators, can get access to very personal health information. Ms Claydon said the Turnbull Governments track record of IT-failures was crippling confidence in the program. From the Robodebt debacle, to the botched census and the failed NBN, this Government has an appalling track record on IT and security, Ms Claydon said. The rollout needs to be suspended while the Government fixes some very legitimate community concerns. While it Government has made a number of changes, I dont think they go far enough. To make a submission visit: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/MyHealthRecordsystem Submissions close on 14 September and the Committee is due to report on 8 October.