Clinical Informatics in the North West – the start of a new era!

This meeting is free and open to all, but please notify your intention to attend to: phil.paterson at bcs.org.uk
Please forward this email to colleagues who may be interested ...
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Thursday, 1st July 2010, 6.15pm light buffet, 7pm talk
Clinical Informatics in the North West – the start of a new era!
Speakers: Dr Andrew Coley, Dr Asad Sadiq, Mr Bibhas Roy, Dr Sydney Schneidman, Dr Rhidian Bramley, Dr Amir Hannan
Organiser: BCS Health Northern
Venue: Manchester Conference Centre, Sackville Street, M1 3BB
Directions: www.manchesterconferencecentre.co.uk/location/

HICAT - a new approach by NHS Northwest – is this the start of a new era for Clinical Informatics in the region?

The HICAT are the Health Informatics Clinical Advisory Team at NHS North-West:

• Dr Andrew Coley is the Senior Clinical Officer.
• Dr Asad Sadiq is a consultant psychiatrist and Mental Health IT lead.
• Mr Bibhas Roy is an orthopaedic surgeon and Secondary Care IT lead.
• Dr Schneidman is an A&E consultant and Lorenzo clinical IT lead.
• Dr Bramley is a consultant radiologist and Diagnostics IT lead.
• Dr Hannan is a GP and the Primary Care IT lead.

We will describe the HICAT Mission Statement and the principles used to help deliver the next generation healthcare using IT to help deliver care. We will describe what we are doing for Clinical Informatics across the board in the North West and what impact we expect from the initiatives and efforts to have on clinical practice in the region, both short term and long. We will explain how our work will benefit patients. The speakers will be happy to discuss our plans and expectations with a knowledgeable audience and to take note of helpful feedback.

This talk should appeal to all with an interest in the use of Informatics by clinicians and the impact that can have on the quality and safety of patient care and the efficiency of services provided through the NHS.

Everyone welcome to attend this FREE event
but please notify your intention to attend to
phil.paterson at bcs.org.uk

If you have any queries on anything BCS related then please do not hesitate to contact me. Also, if you know of any IT events that would be of interest to fellow members, then please let me know.

Regards,
Andrew Mohan,
Chairman,
BCS Manchester Branch.
Andrew_Mohan at bcs.org.uk

www.bcsmanchester.org.uk
The Branch's website has details on all of its events and links to the other BCS groups that operate in the Greater Manchester area.

http://twitter.com/bcsmanchester

NHS data breaches: the 'cogeography' of who and where?

Computing this past week featured an item (extract below with link) -

Five more NHS trusts involved in serious data breaches
Written by Tom Young
Computing, 17 Jul 2009

Privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has found five more NHS organisations in breach of the Data Protection Act.

The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust reported the loss of an unencrypted CD initially thought to contain medical treatment details of 20,000 patients from the hospital’s cardiology department.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust reported the theft of an unencrypted memory stick containing 143 patient details including sensitive medical information.

And Epsom and St Helier University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been storing hospital records insecurely for nearly two years following data being transferred between hospitals. ...

Straight away reading this I thought of my previous post about cogeography and commented accordingly (which registered twice - oops!). In light of the previous post here's that comment with some additions....

Such events merely (without trivializing) highlight the human capacity to ERR big(gish) time. Is it not possible for tech to help? If info systems through to mobile devices had a sense of where they are and their status as carrying sensitive data recognised through digital IDs - plus additional meta-dynamic data, then 'cogeographic awareness' might result?

I blogged about this with ref to conceptual spaces.

This would be an artificial example and would make it possible for data previously designated as confidential, sensitive, - HOT data if you will - to self-destruct, 'e-vaporate' if it found itself beyond a given combined virtual or physical environment be that hospital, Trust boundary, SHA, or National border...? This capability already exists no doubt in the security services (although sometimes you wonder) or as suggested in the realms of 'MI' and '007'.

Cogeographic or (cogneographic) may be a neologism and seeks to conjoin the cognitive (cognition) involved in defining, representing and using concepts in conceptual spaces; AND the finding that knowledge is invariably situated - that is knowledge has a geography.

Copies of NHS and social care
data could - should - MUST
have a geography too...?

Another comment rightly questioned the ability to put personal data on
CDs and other media in the first place. Amid the emergence
of renewed debate about the future of e-health
records, clinicians may have a professional
duty to demand cogeographic
properties no
less ...?

Image source: http://www.tapintoquality.com/facts/glossary-d.html

Happy Anniversary 20th July!!

Additional links: Political domain

Political shortsightedness and the power of nuclear weapons

The political expense debacle for ALL the main political parties* here in the UK and the consequences have numerously been described as 'fall-out'.

Although the lasting image is one of MPs staring into the headlights, there are many politicians who must be quietly pleased. When you listen to the leaders explain how the mess will be fixed, they appear to treat the expenses shinannighans as the problem that demands political reform. Once expenses are transparent and the public reassured then the problem is resolved and democracy will be strengthened.

As the political domain links at Hodges' model has attested for many years (and this resource merely scratches a personal political itch) politics covers rather more than 'expenses' and their governance. Long term calls for reform have included aspects of government and democracy beyond the clamour over the voting system. There is a need for global political reform and if this needs to start at a national level from the 'bottom' (literally in this case) -up then so be it. Ideally though political reform must happen in several quarters simultaneously. That is, socially, nationally and reform of the UN. This is happening and through the activism of various World Citizenry - Global Parliament initiatives that exist.

A meeting of minds is not enough: there is a need for a meeting of global consciousness. On a more mundane level - for Westminster the politicians and voters must wake up and grasp the opportunity for wider political reform.

A nuclear blast gives rise to much more than expense laden fall-out.

What about:

• Overpressure
• Electromagnetic pulse
• ....?

Just like clean-up and decommissioning in the nuclear industry, reform and cleaning up the bloat and detritus of political institutions is complex, labour intensive, time consuming, scary for some. Oh yes, and probably expensive too....

*And a shot across the bows for all the others!

Hodges' model: POLITICAL domain resources