I was having a quiet morning just minding my own business and planning what I would write on for the coming week when a short e-mail appeared in my inbox.
The e-mail referred to the following comment that was made in the blog last week.
The blog is found here:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-does-this-sort-of-silliness-keep.html
Here is the comment.
“Anonymous said...
David,
The Medications team at NEHTA has developed an excellent technical model for ETP, consulting extensively as much as they could with eRx and Medisecure, et al. Since the task of creating the technical documents is my responsibility, I will confirm that NEHTA's engagement with this sector has included people like Hatrix etc.
Thursday, September 03, 2009 12:17:00 PM “
Note I am informed that ETP stands for Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions.
I must say I was grateful for the comment as it provided at least some re-assurance that some industry engagement was being undertaken.
On the basis of the phrase “The Medications team at NEHTA has developed an excellent technical model for ETP” I also wondered out loud why we all could not have a bit of a peek at the model to see what we thought of it since it clearly has been developed and written up?
The gist of the e-mail was as follows.
- Silliness is continuing apace at NEHTA.
- What has happened is that the powers that be have launched a Spanish style Inquisition to find out who the naughty employee was as this was a totally unauthorised public utterance.
- Threats of suspension and dismissal have been made.
- NEHTA is very unhappy with the leaks of its confidential information and is planning to make a major fuss to stamp out such behaviour.
Recognising that both the original post and this e-mail could be hoaxes, although the e-mail does come from a legitimate and valid e-mail address, on the basis that both are real I think the following comments are in order.
First, my feeling about this is that if this is the way the organisation is still behaving close to 12 months after acquiring a new CEO then the recommendations of the Deloittes National E-Health Strategy that NEHTA essentially needs to be killed off and reborn in a more reasonable and useful form are proving to be increasingly valid.
We all need to be clear that NEHTA is meant to be a public organisation doing things for the public good. Behaviour of this sort does absolutely no one any good at all.
Second, I feel very sorry for any staff who are being beaten up for doing the perfectly reasonable thing of letting the broader e-Health community know, via the blog, that they thought they had done a reasonable job of developing the ETP model and also thought they had consulted widely enough.
Third, it is also worth pointing out that the writer was probably trying to respond to what was seen as some negative comments and had noted that I specifically ask people to let me and readers know when I have got ‘the wrong end of the pineapple’!
Regular readers will know I try hard for openness and see it as a virtue that NEHTA (DoHA and government in general) should value a great deal more than they do!
Again, if this is all a hoax I am sorry for any distress or career damage caused.
David.
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