Introductory RemarksAuthor(s): D. A. J. TyrrellSource: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, Vol. 184, No.1077, A Discussion on the Value and Automation in the Health Service (Dec. 21, 1973), p. 349Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/76223 .

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Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 184, 349 (1973)

Printed in Great Britain

Introductory remarks

BY D. A. J. TYRRELL

Clinical Research Centre, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex

Automation has made an impact on many aspects of modern life, from primary production to academic investigations, and it has now been applied to a number of topics in medical science and medical care. There have been many meetings and publications in which the techniques of many applications of automation, ranging from the running of a clinical chemistry laboratory to the computer processing of medical data, have been examined and discussed in great detail. At first thought, therefore, it might be considered unnecessary to have yet another meeting on the subject. However, the organizers felt that there was a need for a meeting in which certain important features were kept in mind.

The first was that there was a need for a meeting in which all aspects of the effects of automation would be considered, starting with the collecting and hand- ling of information and materials and ending with the effect that all this would have on the care of the patient. The second was that some attempt should be made to evaluate the whole realistically and, in order to do this, the speakers were asked to concentrate on techniques of which they had experience and which were in practical use in the health service of this or other countries.

Thoughtful readers of these papers will realize that little attention has been given anywhere to the criteria of evaluation, and the word 'value' in the title of the meeting was never defined. However, it was clear that many of the speakers took seriously the responsibility of trying to show whether the automation they were discussing was likely to be of use to the patient, or to the medical or other staff looking after him. In some cases attempts were made to decide whether the introduction of automation was cost-effective. In other words, they tried to proceed beyond the question 'Can it be done?' to the next one, namely, 'Is it worth doing?'.

The Royal Society is an appropriate forum in which to try to bring about such a synthesis and evaluation, because it contains and wishes to foster knowledge and understanding of all branches of science and to relate these to the welfare of the community. As so often happens, the feelings of those who attended the meeting was that they had been present at a valuable meeting of minds, but that the most important questions were only beginning to be asked, much less answered. It is thought that a wider audience would nevertheless be interested in this beginning, so a published version of the meeting is being produced.

The Society is very grateful to all those who contributed and for the additional effort put into the preparation of the manuscripts.

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