> To:            [log in to unmask]
> Cc:            [log in to unmask]
> Subject:       Re: IBM's view of Internet-based medical records
> Date:          Mon, 14 Oct 1996 08:43:13 +0100
> From:          Ross Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-to:      [log in to unmask]

> > Why do administrators think they need all the data before taking action?
>
> Bureaucrats everywhere want power and control.

I am getting seriously annoyed with the attitude which seems
prevalent in some gp-ukers, that ALL managers are bad guys.  This is
as bad as saying that ALL GPs are 'nervously feeling for their
wallets'.  I have said this before, and I will say it again:  SOME
 (probably many) managers are as dedicated to being part of a
system which provides good health care free at the point of delivery
 to the patients (i.e. our friends, neighbours and relatives) as are
doctors, nurses, and others who directly care for patients.  We
are subject to the same constraints as clinicians are:  namely
political whim and expediency.  There have even been some
managers, myself included in the past, who have spoken out where
they have seen patient care subordinated to cash flows, the
'efficiency index', and all the bureaucratic apparatus foisted on us
by a Government which knows the price of everything and the value of
nothing.  Some of us did not vote Tory at the last election - anyone
care to admit that they did ???

> In more detail, administrators seek access to all information flows so
> that they can cover their backs, but also so that they can avoid being
> axed in the next reorganisation.

You, of course, would happily give up your job if the government
decided that you were past your sell-by date?

> Given that the number of managers in
> the NHS has increased by an order of magnitude in the last decade,
> that the public complains about this, and that a change of government
> may happen shortly - well, you get the idea.
>
> > Why don't they use a confidence system, where they believe what is sent ,
> > but without all privacy data? And of course institute a controlling body
> > which randomly checks claims.
>
> Well, this is what they do in Germany, and their system seems to work a
> lot better than ours. Waiting lists are shorter or nonexistent, doctors
> earn more money and have lots of shiny new machines in their surgeries -
> and yet the cost of healthcare is the same 7-8% of GNP as in Britain

Couldn't agree more - but please make sure your abuse is directed
where it is merited!

Sheila

'The sole purpose of gaining power is to give it to those who really
need it.'  (Aneurin Bevan)
-----------------------Sheila Teasdale---------------------------
Editor - Informatics - The Journal of Informatics in Primary Care
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nphcare/PHCSG/Journal/index.htm
---------------Fax 01529 460589 / 01522 569874-------------------


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