Replace doctors' judgement with more computers in the NHS, Jeremy Hunt

[Mister M]

Jeremy Hunt has said that The NHS could be made safer by removing more medical decisions from the hands of doctors and letting computers and protocols decide aspects of care instead, Jeremy Hunt has said.

 

The Health Secretary argued that the approach, which he described as “controversial”, had worked in parts of the American healthcare system and should be pursued in the UK.

 

Mr Hunt gave an example of a hospital in the United States where the production techniques of a Japanese car company had been copied and applied to healthcare.

 

I'm not sure that I'd want a computer programme deciding my treatment, not would I want my NHS being modelled on the U.S. system.

 

ATOS is an example of where computers have been involved in public policy /WCA, and look what happened there

Edited October 5, 2015 by Mister M

[sgtkate]

Theoretically, a computer can run more simulations than a human brain can so in situations that resemble a flow chart (no matter how complicated) a computer would almost always do a better job than a human.

 

Whether you can model health decisions in that matter remains to be seen.

 

In all situations the computer is only as good as the programmer.

[JFKvsNixon]

Theoretically, a computer can run more simulations than a human brain can so in situations that resemble a flow chart (no matter how complicated) a computer would almost always do a better job than a human.

 

Whether you can model health decisions in that matter remains to be seen.

 

In all situations the computer is only as good as the programmer.

 

One of the tricks to good healthcare is trying to work out what the patient is really saying. Our health is often a big emotive issue, so trying to unwrap each layer of fear to get to the bottom of the problem is a real skill, a skill that as of yet, no computer will be able to achieve.

[floydjones]

One of the tricks to good healthcare is trying to work out what the patient is really saying. Our health is often a big emotive issue, so trying to unwrap each layer of fear to get to the bottom of the problem is a real skill, a skill that as of yet, no computer will be able to achieve.

 

Researchers from Indiana University claim that new computer program is doing a better job than doctors when it comes to both diagnosing and treating health conditions, the computer was nearly 42% better at diagnosing illnesses and prescribing effective treatments than human doctors.

 

My personal experience with the NHS is that Google is better at diagnosing conditions.

[taxman]

Jeremy Hunt has said that The NHS could be made safer by removing more medical decisions from the hands of doctors and letting computers and protocols decide aspects of care instead, Jeremy Hunt has said.

 

The Health Secretary argued that the approach, which he described as “controversial”, had worked in parts of the American healthcare system and should be pursued in the UK.

 

Mr Hunt gave an example of a hospital in the United States where the production techniques of a Japanese car company had been copied and applied to healthcare.

 

I'm not sure that I'd want a computer programme deciding my treatment, not would I want my NHS being modelled on the U.S. system.

 

ATOS is an example of where computers have been involved in public policy /WCA, and look what happened there

 

If he's talking about LEAN it has been widely discredited and was an absolute flop when they tried it in HMRC.

 

Inactive bananas, endless whiteboards, endless stats and meetings and a cottage industry of LEAN practitioners and bureaucracy.

 

Sounds just what the NHS needs.

[Mister M]

One of the tricks to good healthcare is trying to work out what the patient is really saying. Our health is often a big emotive issue, so trying to unwrap each layer of fear to get to the bottom of the problem is a real skill, a skill that as of yet, no computer will be able to achieve.

 

Indeed - a few years ago I had a nasty case of urticaria. It was only after careful open questioning that the root of the problem was more than likely stress related.

I doubt whether a computer system would've been able to establish that as computers can't read body language or have an 'intuition' about the nature of the problem.

[drummonds]

One of the tricks to good healthcare is trying to work out what the patient is really saying. Our health is often a big emotive issue, so trying to unwrap each layer of fear to get to the bottom of the problem is a real skill, a skill that as of yet, no computer will be able to achieve.

 

that's not strictly true. a computer can sift through tons of information that would take humans centuries to go through. the computer can then refer the patient to the specialist required whilst freeing up cash, space and manhours that are better spent on patient care than having a heart surgeon talking about a kids verruca.

[tinfoilhat]

that's not strictly true. a computer can sift through tons of information that would take humans centuries to go through. the computer can then refer the patient to the specialist required whilst freeing up cash, space and manhours that are better spent on patient care than having a heart surgeon talking about a kids verruca.

 

Why would a heart surgeon talk about a kids verruca? He'd talk about heart surgery. I'm reminded of 90s film demolition man when they asked the computer to track down the baddie, with "hilarious" results.

 

This idea is bobbins.

[Happ Hazzard]

I've been to the doctors before and they've looked stuff up on wikipedia!

[unbeliever]

Let's leave this one to the evidence shall we?

 

A 4 minute appointment with a GP is hardly the gold standard.

Machine learning has come a long way in the last 10 years and I would not be at all surprised if a medical diagnostic AI was knocking around that could beat 4 minutes with a GP.