Nov 13, 2021Why you don’t need a separate ‘document store’ for your Discourse online communityPretty much every time I create a new ‘social collaboration’ Discourse setup for a new professional community I’m asked if there can be some kind of ‘document store’ built into it. When I talk to the customer about this user need, they usually tend to mean that they want something…Discourse5 min readDiscourse5 min read
May 19, 2021No, you do not need a Domain Specific Language (DSL) for Clinical Decision Support or Clinical Calculators.Otherwise known as Computable Biomedical Knowledge artefacts, or perhaps less pompously as Digital Clinical Tools, clinical decision support and clinical calculators could be built quite simply using mainstream programming languages. This is what I would regard as positive effort towards solving a problem. Libraries of testable, open source, reusable code…Dsl5 min readDsl5 min read
Jan 31, 2021Why we chose Python for the RCPCH Digital Growth Charts project.So here is a little bit of a ‘stream of consciousness’ blog post I felt compelled to write, about why we chose Python for the RCPCH digital growth charts API. Not everyone will be interested in this, it’s here more a geeknote than anything. https://github.com/rcpch/digital-growth-charts-server We knew that we were…Python4 min readPython4 min read
Dec 4, 2020The Clinical Software Usability ScaleIt’s been 5 years since the Clinical Software Usability Scale (cSUS) was created. Following a discussion with a friend and colleague Dr Dave Pao today, I realised there wasn’t really much out there describing cSUS. Methodology Following the pattern established by the scoring of the established, pan-industry, Systems Usability Scale (SUS)…Usability2 min readUsability2 min read
Dec 3, 2020Royal Colleges 3.0: ‘Best Practice As Code’I’ve spent the last few months working with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) on a project to deliver a Digital Growth Charts web-service. It’s been a hugely interesting project to help digitise the complex clinical logic of growth chart use into code. As part of doing…API9 min readAPI9 min read
Jul 9, 2020The NHS as an unassailable Public-Private Wealth Transfer MechanismAn unusually political blog article from me this time. It’s still healthcare-relevant, but it’s concerned with some of the bigger-picture stuff that I’ve been observing. It also cuts across some of my other views — particularly those around open source in healthcare — because open source, sharing, and collaboration are…Nhs6 min readNhs6 min read
Nov 14, 2018Why the TRUD must dieI’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the way that NHS Digital communicates standards and interacts with its developer community doesn’t belong in the 21st Century. It has to change. What is wrong It’s 2018 and the breathless health-tech fangrrls and fanbois are quite rightly wondering where we are up…Web Development6 min readWeb Development6 min read
Jun 19, 2018Open source is the only way for MedicineI believe that closed-source, proprietary clinical software is fundamentally unethical, going beyond even the pharmaceutical industry in how closed source clinical software subverts the duty to share medical knowledge, and protects intellectual property to the detriment of patients. When developing healthcare software it is important to recognise the additional ethical…Healthcare9 min readHealthcare9 min read
Nov 16, 2017There’s no such thing as a free Launch (or maybe there is)… Launchers on Linux in 2017Confession: I once owned a MacBook Pro. There was once a time when I just had to try a Mac and see what all the fuss was about. In the end I came back to Linux (yes, really. Long story). But MacOSX left one permanent mark on me — I…Linux6 min readLinux6 min read
Aug 6, 2017Apperta Foundation backs NHSbuntu with £30K grantWe’re very excited to be able to announce that the Apperta Foundation, (formerly NHS England Open Source) has backed NHSbuntu with initial support funding of £30k, in order to facilitate the initial few work packages required for NHSbuntu’s next few steps. Details of the work packages will be published shortly…Nhs2 min readNhs2 min read
