THERE IS widespread public support for a greater sharing of health information across the health system, an opinion poll published yesterday has found.
The Red C Poll of 1,000 people commissioned by the Health Information and Quality Authority revealed that 96 per cent of those questioned supported the use of a single number to identify health information across healthcare settings.
Almost three-quarters believed a hospital already contacts their GP after discharge with an update of important information.
"Our poll indicates that people are very comfortable with the sharing of health information across a range of situations and in fact believed this is currently the case," Prof Jane Grimson, director of health information with the authority said.
Some 94 per cent said their personal medical records should be accessed by medical professionals if they were picked up by an ambulance in a life threatening situation.
Asked to consider a number of other scenarios, some 42 per cent of respondents said they would be "very comfortable" for a physiotherapist to access their records following referral by their family doctor. A further 43 per cent would be "quite comfortable" with this arrangement. However, just 33 per cent would be "very comfortable" with a health manager accessing their clinical notes in order to monitor quality of care issues.
Almost all of those surveyed (96 per cent) said they had the right to be informed of who has access to their personal health information.