[Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/artificial-intelligence-electronic-medi... ]
Hello Neil, You asked, 'Is the order appropriate, or is it better simply to warn doctors about the fallibility of such tools and to emphasise the importance of checking all technical outputs for accuracy?'
I think it is appropriate to give this latest order, because even though, and rightly so, the benefits of AI have already been circulated by the NHS in its earlier post. The NHS had also earlier circulated guideline that 'For use in the NHS, any ambient scribe tool that summarises the input it receives must be registered as a class I medical device with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). A clinical safety risk assessment and a data protection risk assessment must also be completed before these tools are used.' This is standard acceptable requirement for all devices, medicines and commodities use in health care, world wide. (let me be the first to accept that some countries especially in LLMICs default in not having such standards at all, and some who have published it do not enforce it). I believe that this latest order by NHS England is appropriate, because, as it says 'The use of ambient voice technology(AVT) tools that do not meet NHS standards poses a risk to patient safety, and many AI companies offering services to the NHS have not met basic governance standards'. The order does not contradict the earlier one that communicated the benefits of AI and AVT.
Let the producers of this technology comply with the necessary due processes of the MHRA for any medical or health device.
Joseph Ana.
HIFA profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Senior Fellow/Medical Consultant at the Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). He is a member of the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care (TAG-IC2). As the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, he led the introduction of the Homegrown Quality Tool, the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme, in Nigeria (2004-2008). For sustainability, he established the Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health in the Cross River State Ministry of Health, Nigeria. His main interest is in whole health sector and system strengthening in Lower, Low and Middle Income Countries (LLMICs). He has written six books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance programme, suitable for LLMICs, including the TOOLS for Implementation. He served as Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association’s Standing Committee on Clinical Governance (2012-2022), and he won the Nigeria Medical Association’s Award of Excellence on three consecutive occasions for the innovation. He served as Chairman, Quality & Performance, of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act 2014. He is member, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health. He is the pioneer Secretary General/Trustee-Director of the NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers. (http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group). jneana AT yahoo.co.uk