Vital health records.

Tony Abbott proposes to dump electronic health records if he wins office - and that will lead to decreased medical care for many people.

We live in a ever changing, mobile society and all too often when we consult a new doctor in a new area the only information we can supply is whatever we retain in our memory - and that leaves many gaps.

There is merit in having our entire medical history encoded in a microchip that may be down loaded onto our new doctor's computer. In particular, this would be vital if we were to be involved in an accident and taken unconscious to hospital.

It seems that the sticking point is privacy !

Surely that can be solved by each person opting for one of two options.

Those who do not have privacy concerns may decide that their entire medical history should be encoded onto their Medicare card. For those wishing personal privacy, the details would be encoded onto a separate card which they may - or may not - share with the treating doctor.

To dump this proposed improvement in record keeping is a little like throwing the baby out with the bath water !