During a recent stay in the (Port Macquarie) Base Hospital I was informed that the discharge records could not be sent to our GP because they did not have the facility to do so.

Can you believe it?

My grandkids can communicate across the world in a click, but the hospital can't communicate across this little city except in hard copy. To add insult to injury on completion of a CT scan I was given a CD (or DVD) with the images on it.

But this is of no use to my GP because they don't have the software needed to read them.

No written report was provided and, of course, no electronic report to the doctor.

On enquiring of my GP I was told that the reason is that the government will not provide the funding for the software. Astounding!

Is this the case in all hospitals in NSW (Australia?) or just in the boondocks?

I suggest Port News do a bit of investigating to get to the bottom of this ludicrous situation. I guess it's possible that I misunderstood. But I still don't have a CT scan report.

John Neilson

Eastside Terrace

Port Macquarie