At 11:32 pm +0930 15/7/06, Oliver Frank wrote:
Ian Cheong wrote:
At 9:02 pm +0930 11/7/06, Oliver Frank wrote:
Dear colleagues,
I asked NEHTA to tell me the names of the GPs involved in advising NEHTA.
[...]
A lone voice in the wilderness has little chance against a large
bureaucracy. A co-ordinated attempt by the professional bodies
would have more impact, but we all know how good they are at
co-operating....hence the support they give to a national voice on
GP informatics.
That is an interesting response.
I believe that the days of lone voices in wildernesses are over.
They are over because the tremendous power of improved communication
via the Internet has blown away the previous ability of
organisations and bureaucracies (of any size, large or small) to
ignore the voices of those who feel that there is a problem with
what the organisation is doing or not doing.
Agree that we are on the cusp of a changing power structure because
of the spread of information.
I remember when I was a medical student and a young doctor the
frustration of knowing that if I wrote to a medical or other
organisation to with a question, suggestion, proposal or complaint,
I had to depend entirely on the decisions of those who were running
those organisations about whether they took any action or even
responded to my letters. I say letters, because that was all that
we had in those days, apart from attending any meetings that may be
held. There was no easy way to inform any colleagues of my concerns
or to seek their views and support in any campaigns for improvements
to existing systems or ways of doing things. If organisations and
bureaucracies didn't like whatever was being suggested to them, or
judged the issue as not worthwhile, they could just ignore the
correspondence and nobody would be any the wiser. The status quo
could be maintained and life for those in power could continue
peacefully undisturbed.
But what you say above seems still pretty much the usual situation.
Well that's my experience with a GP organisation, local council, etc.
Now hundreds or thousands of colleagues can know immediately what I
am concerned about, and can easily and swiftly let me and each other
know their views and opinions about the issue. I no longer feel
that I am thinking or acting alone, but that I am part of a large
group of intelligent, skilled, thoughtful, creative and active
colleagues who have influence and many contacts.
If an organisation or bureaucracy to whom I have written fails to
reply to my concerns or to respond in any meaningful and considered
way, many colleagues (and sometiems the medical press as well) will
hear about it very quickly and will know that this organisation or
bureaucracy has a problem. Organisations that are functioning
reasonably effectively ensure that they reply politely, promptly and
thoughtfully to all messages that they receive.
Everybody on this list now knows that I have written to the Minister
and to the RACGP, AMA and ADGP about NEHTA's strange and
unacceptable behaviour, and will judge those organisations by their
responses to my message. Others on the list may be inspired by this
also to express their feelings to the Minister:
You will have real clout if the media picks up the story.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(don't forget to politely address your message to him as:
Hon. Tony Abbott
Minister for Health and Ageing
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600)
and to whichever organisations they wish about what NEHTA is doing.
A message from one GP can be dismissed as a message from a crank.
It is less likely to be dismissed if is respectful, considered and
makes a reasonable and reasoned request or argument and doesn't
abuse people or say just "Somebody orta do sumpin".
Receiving messages from ten GPs in different States all expressing
similar concerns is a rare event for any organisation and for the
Minister, and starts alarm bells ringing.
Not sure that 10 is enough to ring alarm bells. Maybe a few hundred
of "non-enthusiasts".
[...]
So, in summary, I believe that we are no longer lone voices in the
wilderness, and that all organisations and bureaucracies now need to
be very careful in how they respond to all messages. The world is
now much more likely than ever before to hear about strange and bad
behaviour and about failure to fulfill one's obligations.
Certainly the future holds more promise of decentralised decision
making as alluded to by James Suroweicki in "The wisdom of crowds",
but that requires the power brokers to give up some power.....and
that is not an easy thing in the history of man.
Ian.
--
Dr Ian R Cheong, BMedSc, FRACGP, GradDipCompSc, MBA(Exec)
Health Informatics Consultant, Brisbane, Australia
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(for urgent matters, please send a copy to my practice email as well:
[EMAIL PROTECTED])
PRIVACY NOTE
I am happy for others to forward on email sent by me to public email lists.
Please ask my permission first if you wish to forward private email
to other parties.
_______________________________________________
Gpcg_talk mailing list
[email protected]
http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
