Time to debate one-click transparency

Ray Moynihan explores dilemmas over public access to records on professional misdemeanours

These days, it seems technology starts to answer the questions it raises, even before we’ve had time to properly formulate them. As social media and sophisticated software force previously unimagined forms of transparency deep into the fabric of our lives, asking where to draw the line between professional privacy and the public right to know feels somehow old-fashioned. Yet, the answers will affect the future of health care, its massive workforce and the population at large. Australia’s new national register of over half a million health professionals now offers the possibility of searching someone’s entire track record with one click. The extent to which we embrace this new opportunity is the subject of an emerging debate that’s likely to generate a lot more attention.