Open source digital playbook

open forum
1

TIL there is an ‘Open Source Digital Playbook’ published by NHS England:

I honestly had the impression that NHS leadership was anti-OSS.

S.

2

The NHSE leadership is firmly in favour of virtue signalling of all kinds, as long as it doesn’t mean they have to practice what they preach.

  • Virtue-signalling in favour of “open source” while actively procuring only closed-source megasuites.
  • Virtue-signalling towards “improving staff welfare” while presiding over removal of rest areas, dehumanising clinical rotas, and the abuse and persecution of whistleblowers.
  • Virtue-signalling for “retention of staff” while those very staff are currently striking over pay and conditions of work.
2 Likes
3

Not sure what you mean?

Most of the work I’ve done and currently doing is on NHS Digital · GitHub
but I am an injun, not chief.

4

Agree that NHS Digital GitHub is OSS because you can read the source …

However, the uninitiated can’t meaningfully log issues or submit PRs to fix problems that may be identified by reading the source!

5

TIL(2) NHS Digital(!) has a GitHub!

6

There is a bit of a mix in the GitHub.

  • I’m not sure all of it counts as software?
  • Many repo’s don’t seem to have a licence?
7

This highlights some serious contradictions that deserve attention. If NHSE wants credibility, there needs to be consistency between what’s said and what’s done—especially when staff morale and patient care are at stake.

What else we take action?