This opinion piece was originally featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, here.
I was hospitalised nine times in 2012 with bowel obstructions that could have killed me. Each time in emergency, I recounted through gritted teeth my medical history in all its terrifying glory - more than 20 years of multiple chronic health problems. I tried desperately though the fog of pain to remember the eight medications I was taking - and would then, as my vision blurred, try to tell the nurse I was allergic to sulphur-based medications.
I was lucky I never presented unconscious. If I had, I likely would have been prescribed a medication that would have triggered an allergic response and internal bleeding, or the very carefully managed doses of my medication might have been prescribed incorrectly, causing a dramatic change in my condition.
I fought nine times that year to stay conscious through the pain - not out of a sense of demonstrating my resilience, but because I knew that my history and my future were in my shaking hands.
This is the biggest immediate benefit of My Health Record, knowing that having your health in your hands is most effective in these acute situations. You can feel safe in those moments where the wrong call is the difference between life and death.
Having been directly involved in reviewing and providing insights on the functional security of the My Health Record system, I can say the risks have been mitigated to the highest standard. This is in sharp contrast to the dangerous implications of continuing with paper records, which cannot be password protected or encrypted and are easily lost or read without any history log.
The ability to audit the log of who has accessed your record, and what they have viewed or added, provides a measure of accountability that does not exist with paper records.
My Health Record is not about intrusiveness, the corruptibility of institutions or even the trust indicators we assign to healthcare. It’s about taking tangible steps towards a national standard of co-ordinated and interconnected healthcare.
It will help reduce the number of people who fall victim to medication misadventure. And it will take stress away from emergency room situations where people can’t remember what medications they’re taking or what they’re allergic to. It will help Australians take control of their health and wellbeing.
The immediate benefits of this initiative to those who are chronically unwell, ageing or confide in the treatment of multiple care providers are undisputedly positive. Even those who see little use for My Health Record today may rely on it one day when they least expect it.