Verification and trust in healthcare

Area of Science:

• Sociology of Science and Technology
• Information Science
• Public Policy

Background:

• The principle of 'trust but verify' is commonly applied to authorities.
• Trusted Research Environments (TREs) are proposed as custodians for big health data.
• Graham et al. argue that verification systems in TREs negate the uncertainty required for trust.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine the relationship between verification and trust in the context of UK Trusted Research Environments (TREs).
• To propose an alternative, relational account of how trust is established and maintained in data environments.
• To address the claim that public trust in TREs is unclear or misconceived.

Main Methods:

• Philosophical and sociological analysis of trust and verification mechanisms.
• Critique of the 'trust or verify' dichotomy presented by Graham et al.
• Development of a relational model for understanding trust in institutional contexts.

Main Results:

• Verification processes can introduce their own uncertainties, rather than eliminating them.
• While verification may not extinguish the need for trust, it can enhance feelings of trust.
• TREs, as institutions, may become 'too big to fail,' potentially obscuring flaws in their verification systems to protect their brand.

Conclusions:

• Trust in institutions like TREs is a social and political construct, not solely dependent on technical verification.
• A more nuanced, relational understanding of trust is needed for effective governance of big health data.
• Institutions must be transparent about verification limitations to genuinely foster public trust.