MEDICAL defence organisations have added to the chorus urging the government to delay the launch of the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) and warned GPs will have to overhaul their practices to comply with the system’s data security provisions.

MDA National president Associate Professor Julian Rait said the government had not properly considered the “very serious data security issues” involved because it was trying to rush the system out by its 1 July launch date.

“We think there has been an excessive amount of political pressure put on the people that are doing this without all the proper tests and checks required to do it properly and safely,” he said.

“We would counsel our members to be very cautious about being involved with the system and, until such time as we are satisfied, we would discourage them from using it.”

Professor Rait said he didn’t know how small practices would cope with having to overhaul their data security protocols in order to ensure GPs and staff were adequately protected.

“How can you possibly put the extra cost burden on practices and not pay them anything else for doing this?” he said.

Avant medico-legal advisory services manager Andrew Took said GPs curating the shared health summary would play “a pivotal role if the system is to be a success”.

“It will be important the GP maintains an accurate clinical summary, as once you upload a summary and put it on the system, it has the potential to be accessed by a number of other health providers, and an inaccurate shared health summary may lead to legal liability,” he said.