The dictionary definition of a saga is an Icelandic epic narrative, a long and complicated story in which famous families do this and that over a long period of time and there is a major element of heroic exploits. The common definition is of a long and complicated story to which there seems no end. The former sounds great; the latter sounds like health IT policy in Australia.

As a new federal government settles in in Canberra and a couple of state governments begin their respective roads to re-election with big-spending budgets and ministerial reshuffles, longstanding healthcare horrors lurk in the background, ready to trip up any new administration. For the feds, it is the deep trough of health and aged care funding, along with our old friend “permanent” telehealth. For the states, the funding trough is allied to a history of administrative bungling and an inability of the health sector as a whole to get with the times.