E&OE…
Topics: My Health Record; Walk for Autism
LEON BYNER:
So let’s talk to- and thank him for coming on this morning the federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning, Leon.
LEON BYNER:
First of all you’re completely relaxed about the fact that we’ve extended the cut-off point in terms of opting out until the end of January.
GREG HUNT:
Yes we worked with the crossbench on that yesterday. What happened was that Labor bizarrely took steps to try to ensure that the privacy protections that we were proposing and also the tougher penalties in terms of doubling jail time for anybody that misuse My Health Record would effectively be stalled.
They wanted to do that by poisoning the legislation, the Senate, the crossbench rejected that along with us and instead we struck an agreement to extend the period before a record is created until 31 January.
But I think it’s very important to say (inaudible) can opt out or opt in at any time during their lives. All that means is that 31 January is when a record will be created for you if you haven’t either opted out or opted in. But at any time during someone’s life they can opt in or opt out. They have complete control and complete choice.
LEON BYNER:
Now, I understand that there’s a lot of people who are going to have a record to be created, we get that. And you’ll get the odd glitch because that’s life.
But yesterday I had a lot of people telling me – and we’ll move through each one step by step. First of all – and this is the most serious of all I think is where people got their file and many found it very complex to do it – and we’ll get to that in a moment – but when people got their file there were a number of cases where the information on it was completely incorrect.
Now, why would that have happened? I get that it does and it can but why would that happen?
GREG HUNT:
So we’d obviously have to check- something that is incorrect it could only be because what was uploaded from their doctors were incorrect, so we’d need to- I’d invite anybody to approach what’s called the Digital Health Agency either on the phone or online and to let us know if there are issues there, but that would be from the GP record.
So essentially the My Health Record simply brings together people’s Medicare, their Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme and their GP records and if their hospital is uploading, hospital records or specialist records.
So it actually brings together your lifetime record. In the case of an emergency if somebody has an allergy to penicillin, it’s there. In the case of somebody who had a particular clash of medications which they can’t bring together, it’s there. So it serves that purpose for everybody and the data actually is drawn from the existing sources that are out there.
So if anybody has found something which is incorrect then we would absolutely ask and encourage them to ring or go online to the Digital Health Agency.
LEON BYNER:
Alright, which government departments will have access to these records?
GREG HUNT:
None. The Digital Health Agency owns them. No government department has access to Your Health Record. The Digital Health Agency can help you access your own record but as Health Minister of Australia I can’t find out anybody’s record, no minister, nobody has the right to do that.
It’s only somebody who is operating on your behalf to add or subtract something.
LEON BYNER:
Here are a couple of questions from people and they’re really- they’re good questions and they’re very practical. Where parents are separated, which parent has access to the kids records?
GREG HUNT:
So it’s a question of custody and just this minute, laws have gone through the Senate which will now go to the House of Representatives which will prevent any parent who has an order against them from accessing that record. So literally half an hour ago that legislation went through (inaudible) and that’s an additional protection which has been provided.
LEON BYNER:
Will WorkCover insurers have access to information?
GREG HUNT:
No.
LEON BYNER:
No?
GREG HUNT:
Categorically no.
LEON BYNER:
Has the Privacy Commissioner any concerns about the system?
GREG HUNT:
I’ve met with and spoken with the Privacy Commissioner (inaudible).
LEON BYNER:
Your phone just cut out there so if you can answer that again that will be good.
GREG HUNT:
Yep. I have spoken at length with the Privacy Commissioner and we’ve worked with her and she fully supported the changes that were made here and endorsed them as being the right thing.
The system (inaudible) for six years and it has six million people on it and there have been no cases identified through two Senate inquiries of misuse at all. But these are additional protections and developed indeed in conjunction with the Privacy Commissioner.
LEON BYNER:
Alright, Minister, is it- I guess I should ask whether they have to do this. Let’s say your local GP.
Are all GPs that we are seeing asked to load up this information on that file or is it up to their discretion?
GREG HUNT:
It’s at their discretion. We’re obviously encouraging GPs to participate in the system but it’s entirely at the discretion of the patient and the GP if the patient hasn’t expressed a view if the patient can and My Health Record.
LEON BYNER:
So let’s say you go to the doctor today and you have a consultation and whatever is done and prescribed or diagnosis. Might you assume that unless you say: please don’t put this on My Health Record that it’s going to go on there or is there another way to know?
GREG HUNT:
If your doctor has access to (inaudible) allow him or her that and you’ve established a pattern where they will upload then will do that. If you didn’t want something- anything uploaded at all they wouldn’t do that.
If you said look I would rather not have this element uploaded then they’ll respect that. So the individual has complete control over his or her record.
But the interesting thing is until now people have not had access to their own fundamental data, something which as a right as something in the 21st century Australia, we can access our banking details but we haven’t been able to access our own medical history.
So to know what illnesses, what vaccines, it was 20 years ago, what did I have. All of that is a basic right and this is about extending a right to Australians which should have been tested but hasn’t previously.
LEON BYNER:
Just for the record let’s say today or tomorrow or next week, because you’ve got ‘till the end of January before this file is formed as you explained, so let’s say you want to opt out. How long should it take you to do it?
GREG HUNT:
Generally it takes a couple of minutes to either log in or to get on. Yesterday there was a delay because in fact telecommunications provider had a problem.
We did have additional staff on but it was at the telecommunications provider level and their digital (inaudible). Apologised, ultimately I’m the minister responsible and so I take responsibility for that but it was actually just a telecommunications provider that had an issue with (inaudible) delays, so I do regret that for anybody that had a delay yesterday.
LEON BYNER:
Alright. Now I want to ask about this 500 kilometre Walk for Autism around the electorate of Flinders and you’re wanting to increase awareness of it and I think it’s a worthy thing to do.
What are we doing for people with autism that is going to make their life a little easier?
Because I’ll give you a typical scenario where you’ve got a boy or girl at school – this is not the only example but just as a way of exemplifying what actually goes on – and the school says; well we’ll get an analysis done and you might have already had one that their way of doing the analysis or their bar for help is different. What do people do?
GREG HUNT:
So two things.
Firstly we’ve just published national guidelines for autism diagnosis developed and agreed by the leading professionals in Australia. So that’s now been set down, a very very clear set of national guidelines.
Secondly, as a government we’ve included autism within the NDIS which is such an important part. I think roughly 30 per cent – I won’t say that’s the exact figure because it’s not my portfolio, (inaudible) social services, but roughly 30 per cent of people on the NDIS have some presentation of autism which is dramatically changing their lives.
And (inaudible) I’ve just left a school, a beautiful school on Phillip Island in my electorate. We’re about 450 kilometres into the walk and we were talking with young students there and teachers about autism.
And that was about giving them awareness and taking care of each other and understanding that the different behaviours are perfectly normal. They may not be usual but they’re perfectly normal and that you can have incredibly bright people with autism but might struggle in one area such as speech or social cues, that they might be brilliant at maths or brilliant at music or computer graphics.
So those three elements of the guidelines, the NDIS and the awareness.
LEON BYNER:
Greg, thank you for coming on today. That’s the federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.