One of the (many many many) things our team worked on this week finally went live: Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentYou can now access most NHS services from your mobile, with no data charges.In awe of the team who pulled this together very quickly. gov.uk/government/new…gov.ukMobile networks remove data charges for online NHS coronavirus adviceFree access to online NHS services will be a…
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It has been about 6 months since I started my new job at NHSX - I've loved getting stuck in to the Health Service culture. But there was one thing I was missing... a decent hack day! I was delighted to get a ticket to NHS Hack Day. This is a quick post about the event, and what I learned. What's the point of a hackday? There were three common reactions from people when I said a bunch of geeks…
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A mysterious woman, with a non-London accent and blonde hair, reached out her hand. She asked me a simple, yet terrifying, question - "Do you want to come on an adventure?" Sadly, Hadley Beeman does not have a TARDIS (Well, as far as any of us can tell...). What she does have is an interesting new job for me. Take a deep breath, because it's a heck of a long title: Senior Technology Advisor…
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This is part 3 of a series of blog posts looking at the security of the UK Government's web infrastructure. Britain's National Health Service is riddled with old and insecure WordPress-based websites. Many of these sites have severe flaws including being vulnerable to XSS attacks. There is absolutely no suggestion that patient data or confidentiality has been put at risk. These flaws were …
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A slightly tongue-in-cheek title for quite a serious subject. The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust have a list of emergency defibrillators available for public use. To help raise awareness, they've released an app... South Central Ambulance Service@SCAS999Our new app, which locates over 600 AEDs, could help you save the life of a person suffering sudden cardiac arrest.…
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(Unlike most "open letters" this one was sent to my MP using the fantastic WriteToThem. I've added hyperlinks for context.) Dear Jonathan Lord, I want to thank you for highlighting the inadequacy of South West Trains service from Woking. As commuters for four years, my wife and I are sick and tired of trains which are overcrowded, frequently late, and often filthy. As the answer you…
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It looks like the Government is to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging. QR codes on packets of coffin nails have appeared before as concept advertising. I thought it would be interesting to see if QR codes could be used for good. Here's my attempt (I'm not a graphics designer!) Original image via WeMadeThis. The first QR code goes to Direct.gov.uk's mobile friendly Smoking…
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