Marcus Baw
@marcusbaw
NHS General Hacktitioner GP, NHS IT, Software Dev Everything Digital Health everythingdigitalhealth.com RCPCH Digital Growth Charts Freelance Health Tech and Discourse Forum syadmin #CliniciansWhoCode
I'm loving using @mattpocock.com's /teach command to learn music theory & ear-train! Learning bits of music theory for >40 years has left me with gaps, & books repeat what I already know. /teach targets the GAPS 🎯 github.com/mattpocock/s... (my setup: opencode / zed / GLM-5.2 / Ollama cloud)
osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/nhs-eng... Worth a read. It is a sad testament to the culture at NHS England that they would deliberately mislead the public and the profession by claiming causal relationships between FDP and 'benefits' that may not exist.
#NHSEngland seem to think they can fluff the figures on #FDP adoption and nobody will notice. Vague notions like "Trust X are signed up for FDP" is not evidence of *benefit* from #FDP. But FDP comms, driven by politics not science, doesn't care www.medact.org/2026/resourc... @medact.bsky.social
Other Issues Analysts are flagging: "...even with additional power and code optimisation recommendations, processing time reported as taking 4-5 minutes compared to 30 seconds in UDAL." @theguardian.com @greenparty.org.uk @zackpolanski.bsky.social
This is a briefing slide set shown to NHSE SLT about Palantir Foundry (the FDP) released via FOI "Large proportion (not all!) concerned with proprietary software" www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/pala... @doctorow.pluralistic.net @foxglovelegal.bsky.social
NHS England's Digital Data and Technology Committee has posted two reports of its meetings (March 2026 and December 2025), *neither of which* mention open source as a cybersecurity risk. Dec 2025 www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/di... March 2025 www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/bo...
Anyone know why the NHS Termbrowser is down? termbrowser.nhs.uk Error: "Terminology server not accessible!" Was it connected to the Terminology server they unilaterally deprecated with very little warning a few weeks back? digital.nhs.uk/developer/de...
"A thread on the fall of a great journal (because it criticised my company)" Hilarious, panicked bullshittery from someone with a lot to lose. x.com/louismosley/... #palantir #louismosley #nopalantirinnhs
Announcing the first UK "Clinicians Who Code" Conference - this is for any kind of clinician, at any level of coding/developer skill. 20th/21st June, Patch York. £45. Exciting times for CwCs More details in the link! Please share with clinical colleagues! openhealthhub.org/t/clinicians...
Here's the school that Palantir data in the US Maven system helped to target. So, "[On occasion]" Palantir kills children too. Are we cool with that, @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social ? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m... #PalantirOutOfNHS #NoPalantirInNHS
I'm proud to support @eff.org - a vital part of the fight to keep our digital rights and civil liberties.
Here's a few photos of the assemblage of metric screws and bits of Opinel and Morakniv blades I had put together to try to make something... It's very much easier to just be able to buy something off the shelf!
A quick read but one I would say is required reading in 2026: @simonwillison.net's predictions for the future of AI programming: simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/8/l... I completely agree, and I think it'll drive down the costs of building software while driving up quality AND demand.
Discourse as a Personal Journal Here's my blog on why a self-hosted Discourse forum instance makes a great platform for a Personal Journal. bawmedical.co.uk/t/discourse-...
"AI boosts A&E EFFICIENCY", apparently - is this verifiable with any measure of efficiency that would be meaningful to affected patients, or any quality measure? Or is it AI fluff being pumped out by a government that has nothing to offer the NHS apart from chaotic ICBs and a "10 Year Not A Plan"
The 10 Year Health Plan working group: data and technology mentions Federated Data Platform only once: to describe it as a 'learning point'. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6939ae... Does this mean it's not now part of the 10 Year 'Vision'?
The authors of the paper conclude that Postmaster David Cameron's request to appeal should *not* have been blocked. 100% I agree - and further *when we have proprietary code that can result in someone's conviction then that code needs to be published in its entirety, as part of legal disclosure*.
Really interesting line in this report about one of the Post Office postmaster convictions: "This code is proprietary" "Misunderstanding Digital Computer Technology in Court:A Commentary on a Case Involving the Post Office Horizon System" by Peter Bernard Ladkin, Stephen Mason and Harold Thimbleby
Yeah I wondered what might happen if they make it private or delete it, but then my reading of this is that the public forks remain public. If this wasn't the case, it would spell HUGE problems for the open source world
Coincidentally I happened upon this excellent and insightful lament on the difficulty of digital preservation this week, heard through Cory Doctorow who's not on Bluesky but there is this:@pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy. The Dairy Products Theory of Dead Media (2004) bruces.medium.com/the-dairy-pr...
Had an alarming presentation from NHS England today - up till now their plans for the "All-New Electronic Red Book" were described in the #TenYearNotAPlan in two words (in two places): "My Children" + sprinkling of buzzwords including the word "AI" next to "new rash", which is fucking TERRIFYING.
To add context: When one registers a Trademark anywhere in the world, it is published so that anyone with an objection can object if appropriate. It's absolutely rife with opportunist fraud - when they publish your details numerous companies will send emails/mail demanding cash *FOR NOTHING*
Fucking pathetic. Fraud is rife in the immediate purview of the UK's Intellectual Property Office and the best they can do when you report it TO THE GOVERNMENT is to ask *me the citizen* to report it AGAIN to Action Fraud. *I don't work for you*, IPO. Get on the case and put fraudsters in jail.
I can't help finding this amusing (NHSE website) "The Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, can be found on The National Archives website" (But don't worry - *THIS* 10 year plan will be completely enacted within the next 10 years....) www.england.nhs.uk/long-term-pl...
Back home after another amazing Let's Talk Digital 2025 conference @letsdodigital.bsky.social - here are the slides from my session on open source clinical digital safety pacharanero.github.io/2025-lets-ta... !! No more DCB0129/0160 Word templates. !! No more Excel spreadsheet Hazard logs.
public.digital/pd-insights/... Short, very clear, and absolutely correct blog post from Mike Bracken. With a very clear warning, too. We're already sliding towards a situation in which health data will be easy to misuse by the next (likely right wing proto-fascist) government.