Forgot to say.
The @theresa_may schtick about AI saving millions of lives in healthcare is silly.
There are a few probs where AI is useful (i.e. classification).
The real wins in health IT are all: DOING THE BASICS PROPERLY.
That's what we do in e.g. openprescribing.net
The @theresa_may schtick about AI saving millions of lives in healthcare is silly.
There are a few probs where AI is useful (i.e. classification).
The real wins in health IT are all: DOING THE BASICS PROPERLY.
That's what we do in e.g. openprescribing.net
...The Innovation Bro's at DHSC - who have no technical background, but all think AI is going to change the world in the next 5 minutes - are harming patients by shipping terrible tools that don't work, before they're reading for the coalface...
.. To do this stuff properly, and make sensible strategic decisions at the top end, you need doctors who are also nerds about computers and evidence. NHS and DHSC employ doctors who know about management to think thru their health IT and data at a strategic level....
... That skillset is destined to fail. Look at the board of NHS England. There is almost nobody who is FLUENT in evidence, stats, data, computing. Fluent means, you've touched it, you can do it, you can be CREATIVE with it, and dismiss BULLSHIT quickly... england.nhs.uk/about/board/me…
..The situation is even worse on the board of NHS Innovation or whatever they're called. What are they called? I really can't remember their name. The new-ish one that seems to have *exactly* the same role as NHS RightCare. Anyway, whatever they're called: no nerds on the board..
... BECAUSE there are no nerds on the board of NHS England, and their subsidiary bodies: they do not implement evidence, stats, data, computers, into the fabric of healthcare and the NHS. They are destined to fail, BY DESIGN. They simply do not have the skills needed to succeed..
...
That's why every NHS IT programme fails.
That's why every NHS data programme fails, and terrifies patients.
That's why we don't implement evidence properly into everyday practice in the NHS.
That's why we don't have a learning health system.
The NHS board has no nerds.
That's why every NHS IT programme fails.
That's why every NHS data programme fails, and terrifies patients.
That's why we don't implement evidence properly into everyday practice in the NHS.
That's why we don't have a learning health system.
The NHS board has no nerds.
I should finish by saying: I am in no way dismissive of "management" as a profession or skill. I have huge respect for it. Managers do a specific job, and often well. I try do it adequately myself in @EBMDataLab. It is a skill.
But the NHS board does not have nerds. So it fails.
But the NHS board does not have nerds. So it fails.
One last thing.
This will sound mean - and it is - but I think it is important, as it is a rapid screening tool to help you spot the generalists who are holding back progress in a given field, through their lack of technical skills..
This will sound mean - and it is - but I think it is important, as it is a rapid screening tool to help you spot the generalists who are holding back progress in a given field, through their lack of technical skills..
...When people say:
"I'm really interested in the *ethics* of big data and AI"
They mean:
"I lack the technical skills in stats, epi, data and IT to engage with these techniques substantively, but I want to *display* that I'm somehow connected to the issue"
Ethics important…
"I'm really interested in the *ethics* of big data and AI"
They mean:
"I lack the technical skills in stats, epi, data and IT to engage with these techniques substantively, but I want to *display* that I'm somehow connected to the issue"
Ethics important…
... of course ethics are important. But in some parts of thinktank/policy world it feels like it's the only thing the generalists talk about. Look, all I'm saying is, if you are not fluent in some aspect of data/ev/epi/stats/tech, you need to recognise that you will fall short.
