Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently visited the very impressive Isabella Plains Medical Centre in my electorate of Canberra. I was there to sign myself up for my own personally controlled electronic health record. It is pretty easy: you just need your drivers licence and Medicare card. An e-health record is a secure electronic summary of your health information which you access online and which can be accessed by your healthcare professional too.

By signing up for an e-health record, you have an electronic summary of your health information. This means that when you travel or are away from your family doctor or regular health professional, information such as allergies or your prescribed medication can be accessed. This can be vital in saving your life or helping you in difficult circumstances.

I am very impressed with the way that Medicare Local ACT is promoting e-health and providing the community with information on how to sign up. I urge everyone to consider signing up for an e-health record by visiting www.ehealth.gov.au. I would like to thank Dr Rashmi Sharma, the ACT Medicare Local chair, and Leanne Wells, the CEO, for organising my visit. A big thank you, too, to the wonderful and dedicated doctors and nurses at the Isabella Plains Medical Centre, and the home-grown ANU GP registrars I met at the clinic. It was great to see Labor's investments and reforms in health making such a difference.