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There's quite a lot to mention here. There is not a "UK NHS". There are 4 NHSs in the UK, one each for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and England. They rea

by DanBC 4y ago

There's quite a lot to mention here. There is not a "UK NHS". There are 4 NHSs in the UK, one each for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and England. They really are different, with different laws and staff and government departments. When you're googling for NHS England policy you want to avoid nhs.uk, which is the patient facing stuff, and use inurl:england.nhs.uk When I do that and search for "Breast cancer screening" I get this page: https://www.england.nhs.uk/cancer/harnessing-innovation-in-cancer-care/ https://www.england.nhs.uk/cancer/harnessing-innovation-in-c... "Our series of annual Innovation Open Call competitions is an important way in which the NHS Cancer Programme identifies and supports the most promising innovations that will help us to deliver on our ambitions. The successful innovations will be tested and evaluated in real-world settings, so that those that will make the biggest difference can be rapidly implemented across the NHS. In this video, Professor Richard Gilbertson, Chair of the Innovation Expert Advisory Group, gives an overview of the competition and some of the exciting innovations." > disparate databases pushed a link between the universal ID (NHS number) Little bit optimistic there. NHS Numbers are a mess.

forsakenkraken 4y ago
Just to say, this is pretty spot on. Lots of messy data, many different sources of messy data. It's significantly more complex than you'd hope.
cs02rm0 4y ago
Thanks. I was expecting a less UK familiar audience, I've over simplified the problem semi-deliberately, largely to avoid falling into discussing the general mess that is NHS IT. :) My first job probably 20 years ago now was on a Radiology Information System so while probably out of date (though that RIS is still deployed widely so maybe not) I've got some idea of the types of issues, including around NHS numbers. I guess I'm only aiming for that extra layer of Swiss cheese in whatever initial subset of the plethora of systems it could cover. I've also tried taking systems through NHS innovation programmes in more recent years. That's been a whole other level beyond what I experienced with the RIS, all the same issues plus fighting for funding from people who told me they wanted off the shelf and not anything new (or, it seemed, innovative). And I don't need funding so I'm loathe to go that route but I can't dismiss it, it's an option.

by DanBC 4y ago

forsakenkraken 4y ago

Just to say, this is pretty spot on. Lots of messy data, many different sources of messy data. It's significantly more complex than you'd hope.

cs02rm0 4y ago

Thanks. I was expecting a less UK familiar audience, I've over simplified the problem semi-deliberately, largely to avoid falling into discussing the general mess that is NHS IT. :) My first job probably 20 years ago now was on a Radiology Information System so while probably out of date (though that RIS is still deployed widely so maybe not) I've got some idea of the types of issues, including around NHS numbers. I guess I'm only aiming for that extra layer of Swiss cheese in whatever initial subset of the plethora of systems it could cover. I've also tried taking systems through NHS innovation programmes in more recent years. That's been a whole other level beyond what I experienced with the RIS, all the same issues plus fighting for funding from people who told me they wanted off the shelf and not anything new (or, it seemed, innovative). And I don't need funding so I'm loathe to go that route but I can't dismiss it, it's an option.