To the Editor: E-health’s great promise is to improve health care delivery efficiency and effectiveness1 by enhancing multidisciplinary care planning and information exchange.2 General practice is now largely computerised.3 However, a chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and Australia’s otherwise slow progress towards linking secondary care into a functioning national e-health system is frustrating.1,4 We join the chorus, raising concerns about the e-health readiness of the paediatric sector.
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- 1 Centre for Community Child Health (Royal Children’s Hospital, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and University of Melbourne), Melbourne, VIC.
- 2 Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, WA.
- 3 Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Sydney, NSW.
- 1. Deloitte; National E-Health and Information Principal Committee. National E-Health Strategy. 30 Sep 2008. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2008.
- 2. National E-Health Transition Authority. NEHTA Blueprint. Version 1.0, Draft for Consultation. Sydney: NEHTA, 2010.
- 3. Henderson J, Britt H, Miller G. Extent and utilisation of computerisation in Australian general practice. Med J Aust 2006; 185: 84-87. <eMJA full text> <MJA full text>
- 4. Van Der Weyden MB. General practice and e-health reform [editorial]. Med J Aust 2010; 193: 69. <eMJA full text> <MJA full text>
- 5. Hiscock H, Efron D, Wasserman R, Wake M. Power to the paediatricians: the Australian Paediatric Research Network is born. J Paediatr Child Health 2010; Jun 27 [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1754.2010.01772.x.