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News round-up (6 November)

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6th November 2020 about a 2 minute read

Here’s a selection of some of the stories that caught our eye this week…

New commission to explore role of tech in a reformed social care system

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the TEC Services Association (TSA) have set up a Commission to explore how better access to technology could improve joint working between health, social care and housing and offer more preventative, responsive support, shaped around  the individual.

Talks underway on how pharmacists will help deliver a COVID-19 vaccine

The Pharmaceutical Journal reports that the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has said it is working with NHS England and Improvement (NHSE&I) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to agree how pharmacies can play a part in the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

How to make Artificial Intelligence less ‘biased’

The Wall Street Journal reports that AI systems have been shown to be less accurate at identifying the faces of dark-skinned women.

They also tended to give women lower credit-card limits than their husbands. And they were more likely to incorrectly predict that black defendants would commit more crimes than white people. 

UCL researchers publish ‘Find, Test, Track, Isolate and Support’ Covid  dashboard

The Health Tech Newspaper highlights a dashboard devised by UCL to collect Covid-19 data.

The i-sense COVID Response Evaluation Dashboard (COVID RED) collates data from the Office of National Statistics, Public Health England and the NHS.

It presents indicators of performance under each of five headings and identifies areas where more data is needed. 

Why the NHS needs to embrace tech for staffing

An article in Med-Tech Innovation News considers remote working as a viable option for medical professionals. 

Dr Owain Rhys Hughes, founder and CEO of health software company Cinapsis, urges the NHS to “make flexible working a norm and pursue the best technologies to support our new reality.”

Screen and Interpret Thousands of MRSA Plates Daily Through Automated Imaging

The largest clinical laboratory group in Germany, The Limbach group, has adopted an automated detection system for MRSA screening and detection.

The APAS (Automated Plate Assessment System) AI  from LBT innovations, automates culture-plate screening and interpretation.