Junior Doctors Strikes

Complete and utter nonsense.

The complexity and medicolegal risk is such that we'll not be replaced in my lifetime.

There is currently zero AI in existence, if there was, it would instantly be capable to replace all thinking jobs.

The only question is if AI can actually be created or not. It might not be possible.
 
The only things current AI has any reasonable capacity of doing is pattern recognition.

If you give it millions MRI scans of tumours (and healthy scans), it will probably be able to recognise the tumour in an MRI scan.

What an AI can’t do is understand emotion, empathy and the subtle nuances of human behaviour which is why it could never replace an actual doctor.

It could potentially assist them with diagnosis and treatment but the AI wouldn’t be effective on its own because the person using it wouldn’t know what they are doing.

It’s a bit like using AI in legal and accounting professions. Useful but wouldn’t replace because they can’t understand very subtle nuance and context.

What we have now isn’t AI, it’s not actually intelligent. It’s just recognising patterns in data within parameters human have set for it. A few years ago we called this machine learning.
 
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It could potentially assist them with diagnosis and treatment but the AI wouldn’t be effective on its own because the person using it wouldn’t know what they are doing.

This is the realistic role of AI in the NHS: a tool to boost the productivity and effectiveness of clinical staff. That has the potential to help, if implemented well, but it's not going to replace staff merely somewhat reduce the numbers needed to deliver a service. But it also carries the substantial risk of being an expensive boondoggle.
 
Complete and utter nonsense.

The complexity and medicolegal risk is such that we'll not be replaced in my lifetime.

Maybe not so but it is the future. We will get there eventually. I was thinking more in helping and reducing the waiting times and mainly assisting GP's. Thinking of it as an extra level so it could potentially free up time for doctors to look at more serious cases instead of being referred incorrectly.

I went to my local practice because my child is struggling to breath through his nose. The local GP thought he had nasal polyps and gave him steroids to put up his nose. We didn't do it and managed to get to see a ENT specialist in our local hospital and she did a full nasal endoscopy and sleep study. It turns out he has a mild case of enlarged tonsils so we will keep an eye out for now and monitor. His nasal passage was completely normal although full of snot. No Polyps what so ever.

Last year we went to our local practice because our child had a spotty rash all over his back and side. GP diagnosed it as chicken pox. I was skeptical because it wasn't like the pox our daughter caught 10+ years ago but my memory was hazy. Low and behold about 6 months ago he had real chicken pox so that rash he had was completely unknown.

The problem with this is GP's can be signing off antibiotics and stuff which isn't really good for you at the best of times.

My experience of Doctors in actual hospitals and specialists has been nothing but superb but tbh GP's have left a sour taste in my mouth for quite some time. If AI can replace or assist them in making correct decisions that is only a good thing imo.
 
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This is the realistic role of AI in the NHS: a tool to boost the productivity and effectiveness of clinical staff. That has the potential to help, if implemented well, but it's not going to replace staff merely somewhat reduce the numbers needed to deliver a service. But it also carries the substantial risk of being an expensive boondoggle.

not replace in the short term...
 
There is currently zero AI in existence, if there was, it would instantly be capable to replace all thinking jobs.

The only question is if AI can actually be created or not. It might not be possible.

There is zero AGI in existence - although increasingly looking like it's less than five years away and may even be here next year. There's plenty of AI in existence - machine learning and LLMs/Generative systems are all AI and are of practical medical use today. ML is used in breast cancer diagnosis with success rates higher that humans for example.

EDIT: Source: https://www.breastcancer.org/screening-testing/artificial-intelligence
 
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I'm always amazed at what my wife tells me they manage in GP. To function with that level of complexity over such a broad scope is mad (as is my job yo be fair).

Type 2 diabetes/heart failure/hypertension all managed extensively in primary care without support.
I'm amazed at the huge variation in quality.

My GP practice is responsive, effective and proactive, also in my & my wife's experience have a caring approach/manner.

My parents' GPs are the opposite. They're only about 30 mins apart and in similar types of village locations
 
There is zero AGI in existence - although increasingly looking like it's less than five years away and may even be here next year. There's plenty of AI in existence - machine learning and LLMs/Generative systems are all AI and are of practical medical use today.

AI is such a general term it's basically meaningless. Human-like intelligence doesn't appear any closer than ever, LLMs and so forth are certainly far more impressive than anyone expected but they're also hugely limited and no-one has the faintest idea how to go from where they are to actual intelligence.

ML is used in breast cancer diagnosis with success rates higher that humans for example.

Is this actually in clinic use yet? And is there any evidence that it is of clinical benefit? AI detection is not necessarily better depending on what dataset it is given has much higher false positive rates and false positive rates are already a massive problem in screening, these false positive can be corrected by actual doctors to some extent but that can also involve removing the cancers that AI is detecting that doctors don't.
 
I'm amazed at the huge variation in quality.

My GP practice is responsive, effective and proactive, also in my & my wife's experience have a caring approach/manner.

My parents' GPs are the opposite. They're only about 30 mins apart and in similar types of village locations
I train a range of doctors and GP does have the greatest variability in standard. I'd probably get lynched for suggesting it but it partly due to the proportion of IMGs.
 
Everyone will threaten strikes when they know Labour will pay out accordingly.
you say that like it was not happening before under the tories.

it will take time for labour to really make many noticable changes (ideally it would be nice for people to give them some time and at least give em a chance before striking etc) but i am pretty confident anything they do now, would have been done regardless of who won the election.
 
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