Page 28 - Doing Data Together by The Scotsman

DOINGDATATOGETHER
Covid-19: the steep data learning curve
David Lee hears about the successes – and the lessons learned – in the public sector
Cduring the pandemic
ovid-19 marked a funda- mental shift in how real- time statistical infor- mation was discussed, shared and interpreted
on a daily basis – and analysed for relevance by people who had shown little or no interest in data before.
“There is something quite pow- erful in the ability of any citizen to go online and see updated data on cases, fatalities and much more, for anywhere in the world,” says Profes- sor Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and AI at the University of Edinburgh.
“We have seen epidemiological modelling for many past outbreaks, but this is the first time the public was able to access data in such a usa- ble form.”
Gillian Docherty, chief executive of Edinburgh-based innovation cen- tre The Data Lab, agrees: “Every day, we were told, ‘We’re analysing the data, looking at the evidence – that’s informing what we are doing’. That’s been a fundamental change.”
So, how well geared up was Scot- land in understanding the data, shar- ing it across different public bodies and analysing it at high speed to inform life-or-death decisions?
Docherty has been impressed. She says: “I’ve been involved with the public sector for more than a dec- ade and never seen the level of co- operation I’ve seen over the last five months. There has been a can-do attitude, a real willingness to support each other – and this includes han- dling, sharing and analysing data.
“If you had an important data review, you might have been doing it every three months; during the pandemic, it was, ‘OK, we’ll do that tomorrow’. The public sector proved it could move at speed to do what needed to be done while respecting governance and public privacy – and without ripping up the rule book. That’s really positive.”
Jason Leitch, a public face of the pandemic as Scotland’s National Clinical Director, says: “The pace and scale of development has been unprecedented. Data has played a
THE TROUBLE WITH STATISTICS
Data has not always been the friend of the public sector during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In July, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the prevalence of the virus in England was five times higher than in Scotland. However, an investigation by the UK Office for Statistical Regulation (OSR) suggested this claim was based on incomplete, unpublished data. The OSR wrote to Scotland’s chief statistician, saying: “We expect that any figures used are appropriately sourced, explained and available in the public domain.”
There was also criticism of the Scottish Government’s response to the data in the early months of the pandemic that showed many elderly residents in care homes were dying from Covid-19.
Routine testing for the country’s 53,000 care workers was not announced until 18 May, by which
time 1,749 people across Scotland’s care homes had lost their lives to the virus.
Tony Banks, chairman of the Balhousie Care Group, argued the testing delay contributed to some of these deaths, claiming the Scottish Government had “the power
and knowledge to act much earlier to prevent the spread”.
A reluctance for public bodies to share vital data
can also cause problems.
The UK government set
up rapid testing sites for health workers in England and Scotland in April, but
the Department of Health and Social Care refused to share data with Scottish counterparts, citing privacy issues. It was three weeks before rules were changed, meaning vital data on infection rates was not shared with the hospitals where
the healthcare staff worked during this period.
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critical role throughout the stages of the pandemic and been vital to modelling the potential impacts on demand for health and other serv- ices, to ensure they have sufficient capacity to respond to the surge in infection. It has also been used to inform the actions required to mini- mise impact and keep people safe.”
Dr Kenneth Meechan, head of infor- mation and data protection officer at Glasgow City Council, reports a similar picture. He says: “We have learned we can move really fast if we have to. At very short notice, there was a raft of data sharing with the NHS and other agencies that local authorities did not normally share data with, organising food and medi- cal deliveries for people who were shielding and identifying those with social and financial vulnerabilities.”
Despite challenges around pri- vacy and data-sharing agreements
between public bodies, Meechan maintains pragmatism prevailed with lives at risk. He says: “There was an element of necessity and a light touch in terms of governance in a cri- sis situation; sometimes you had to go ahead and complete data protec- tion assessments later.
“No-one would have thanked me for saying that shielding didn’t start because we were waiting for techni- cal paperwork to be signed.”
However, Meechan, also chair of a SOLAR group of Scottish councils’ lawyersondataprotectionandrelated issues, stresses: “Just because you’re in a crisis, you don’t throw out fun- damental safeguards or violate any-
Just because you’re in a crisis, you don’t throw out fundamental safeguards or violate anyone’s rights
one’srights.Wewereconsciouswhere we had to relax normal controls and tracked what we did – and why. We’ll examine that and ask questions.”
He says that lessons learned include working with the NHS to look at a “heat map” of positive tests in the event of further outbreaks. “This is fundamental stuff about people’s health and lives. We are not using personal data for anything other than making important and quick deci- sions to protect vulnerable people.”
And he says amid the crisis there have been positive developments: “In the space of four months, we’ve pushed forward IT and data shar- ing in a way that would have taken at least 18 months normally.
“We have learned valuable lessons, like using social work data beside other data in the NHS Safe Haven. It’s ‘under the bonnet’ so not obviously visible, but researchers can use it to