Abstract
The growth of medical technology and subspecialization means that most medical care can no longer be provided by single doctors working alone. Notwithstanding its benefits, this transition of care from individuals to teams has made healthcare fragmented, with loss of continuity and potentially dangerous handovers , which can result in futile cycles of further enquiry before any effective intervention is delivered. These and other unforeseen consequences have, in our opinion, created major challenges for the care of acutely ill patients, which include reduced availability and slow access to acute care, and the impairment of the traditional bedside assessment and diagnostic processes due to faulty or missing information. To correct these issues, essential information, w hich harms patients if it is incorrect or unavailable, needs to be clearly defined, with systems put in place to ensure it is complete, current, correct, and immediately available. Furthermore, acute care would be focused more on patient needs if quality-of-care outcomes more explicitly measured what matters most to patients.