RCGP Health Informatics Group, JGPITC, and more - with HIG Chair Imran Khan

Описание: Imran and I chat about what the RCGP Health Informatics Group is, and what it does, and introduce some of the other key groups in General Practice IT - the Joint GP IT Committee and the BCS Primary Health Care Specialist Group. Along the way there are a few (hopefully) interesting digressions on Clinical User Interfaces vs airplane cockpits and automobile controls, and ‘SatNavs’ of Medicine.

We discuss the difficulties of being a badly under-resourced group tasked with professional oversight of dozens of national programmes of work across the whole of NHS primary care technology, and appeal for anyone out there with ideas on how best to fund this kind of oversight without becoming dependent on funding from fickle NHS organisations or being in the position of being paid by the organisation we are meant to be overseeing.

What is Health Informatics? “Health informatics is the study and implementation of computer science to improve communication, understanding, and management of medical information.[1] It can be viewed as a branch of engineering and applied science.” from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_...

RCGP Health Informatics Group https://www.rcgp.org.uk/about/communi... - the special interest group within the RCGP with responsibility for clinical informatics. Currently the Chair is Dr Imran Khan and the Deputy Chair is Dr Tom Nichols.

Medicus Health GP system https://medicus.health/

Torex Synergy (aka iSoft Synergy) was acquired by CSC and eventually withdrawn from the GP market in 2012 https://www.digitalhealth.net/2012/09...

Advisory Group for Data (formerly IGARD) https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digi... - the multidisciplinary committee which oversees proper and legal routes for access to NHS data for research, planning and other uses.

Joint GP IT Committee - nope! - there is still almost nothing online about the JGPITC and what it does. It’s a joint committee of the BMA and RCGP which governs issue relating to GP software and hardware.

RCGP press release on Accelerated Access to GP Records with an outline of the RCGP’s concerns about unintended harms that might come from certain https://www.rcgp.org.uk/news/accelera...

Must-watch video on Regulatory Capture as explained by Bill Gurley    • All-In Summit: Bill Gurley presents 2,851 ...   - understanding Regulatory Capture explains a lot of modern politics, how Big Tech have been able to get away with such huge monopolies, and why we need uncaptured, independent regulators.

HTN reporting on FCI’s Position Paper https://htn.co.uk/2023/05/03/federate... and the FCI’s paper mirrored on the BCS website after the demise of the FCI https://www.bcs.org/media/2tpowatr/fe...

NHS England abolition announced early 2025 - hence its current organisational paralysis https://www.nhsconfed.org/publication...

My advice of “Open source your work if you want to create a ‘saved game’ of your best work”, for when your organisation or team is disbanded or abolished, or you get made redundant, isn't referenceable at the moment, so it needs its own episode or possibly blog post...

British Computer Society - Primary Health Care Specialist Group - despite its very long-winded name it’s a very nice group and a great place to learn more about GP IT and clinical informatics generally https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-re...

BCS PHCSG 44th Annual Conference, Education Day & AGM 2025. (FREE education day: Thursday 13rd November 2025) https://www.bcs.org/events-calendar/2...

Imran’s final plug! - If you’re a GP with any interest in the GP computer systems we use, GP research, safeguarding, privacy, clinical safety, automation, AI, security or data then join RCGP HIG! - For RCGP members simply go to https://forum.rcgp.org.uk/ and access the forum. We have a Technology and Health Informatics category within that forum which you can see once signed up. To formally join the HIG, contact Imran in the forum by private message.