Last week I published a blog pointing readers at a very amusing firsthand account of life within the interstices of DoHA written a one Myles Peterson.
The blog is found here:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/02/truth-about-department-of-health-and.html
Over the weekend I was sent a link covering DoHA’s response.
YourHealth.Bodgy.Rushed.gov.au
The Sunday Age had a fantastic whistleblower piece from an ex-insider at the current federal government's health department.
It's a cracker of a read from start to finish, exposing policy on the run, bureaucratic money-wasting verging on rorts and the frustration of being inside a system that seems to value announcements over action. [Note: department's detailed and angry response has been added to the end of this blog]
Of course, it should be taken with a grain of salt. We don't know if the author has any undisclosed axes to grind, though his background as a video game reviewer and World of Warcraft gamer (see the first comment here) speaks more to me of genial nerd than Machiavelli.
And of course any refugee from any government bureaucracy, of any political colour, will have war stories like this.
But one thing caught my eye in particular - the bit about the YourHealth website.
Back mid last year we were waiting with bated breath for the final report of the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, a massive review of health policy that had been through an exhausting series of public consultations.
Finally the thing was released... and Rudd announced... another exhausting series of public consultations, to discuss its contents and proposals.
He made the announcement one morning in front of a backdrop with a logo I had not seen before, and a web address that was unfamiliar to me: YourHealth.gov.au.
But his speech made no mention of this, as far as I can recall.
And the website came up blank. There was no such site.
The rest of the saga and the Departmental response can be read here:
http://blogs.theage.com.au/triage/archives/2010/02/yourhealthbodgyrushedgovau.html
Great fun – as are the comments that follow.
Enjoy.
David.
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