Australian Doctor Australian Doctor 7th July 2017 | Page 2

News
ONLINE
THIS WEEK
australiandoctor.com.au
Most commented
Pharmacists have started ordering pathology
tests — bit.ly/2taVdT0
Legal pitfalls for GPs amid pharmacy’s pathology
push — bit.ly/2ugkO9V
Thousands of GPs rapped for high antibiotic
prescribing — bit.ly/2tqhV9V
Latest News
RACGP slogan comes under fi re in the BMJ
bit.ly/2tvs31D
Audit slams Telstra’s
botched registry rollout
ANTONY SCHOLEFIELD
AUDIT officials have given
a damning assessment of
Telstra’s botched handling
of the new National Cancer
Screening Register, which
has been plagued by delays.
With the shift from Pap
smears to HPV screening,
the new register listing the
health details of 11 mil-
lion Australian women was
meant to go live in May, but
it has been shelved until the
end of the year.
The telecommunications
giant won the $180-mil-
lion contract to operate
the scheme, controversially
beating a rival bid from
the not-for-profit Victorian
Cytology Service.
From the 36 ‘delivera-
bles’ set by the Department
of Health for the rollout,
Telstra Health had only
successfully delivered two
by the original deadline,
according to the Australian
National Audit Office.
The new register was meant to go live in May, but has been
delayed until the end of the year.
Telstra Health failed to
develop a privacy policy, a
disaster recovery plan and
other key elements of the
program on time. Its data
m