[GLLUG] Comments please

[Karanbir Singh]

hi,

On 22/07/2023 17:36, bap--- via GLLUG wrote:
> It turns out that he’s an old skool Linux and BSD hacker. He would like 

Any chance you could share names ?

> to make more use of open-source software. Of course he doesn’t have 
> freedom to kick MS into touch but would be willing and able to 

But MS does not engage with the NHS directly, past the platform services 
- its their ISV's and the ecosystem that rallies around it. And in the 
same space as MS, there are other vendors with some traction, admittedly 
not enough. So I think its important its clarified as to which end of 
what spectrum is being addressed here.

> Elsewhere in the world every country has similar healthcare issues and 
> in the third-world that sometimes means running software on ancient 
> hand-me-down computers, often running old versions of Windows. They 
> could do with some help too. The USA is looking at universal healthcare 
> but it’s not going to happen unless the Democrats gain enough power to 
> amend the constitution or someone comes up with a way to enable 
> individual states to agree a nationwide strategy. Hell might freeze over 
> first.

Healthcare is a complex industry, it might make sense to double down on 
local, focused domains. As has been pointed out in the thread, GPs are 
largely an autonomous entity who can chose and work through their own 
systems. I believe there are multiple vendors in this space, disrupting 
that end of the spectrum with open source, open standards and enablement 
would be good start. Next, the Dentists. Followed by the pharmacists. 
These are the smallest, but complete, execution domains in the space - 
efficiency wins here directly map to impact for mass population.

If you can make a positive impact on the consumer end of the scale, you 
may well find that institutional support becomes morere likely.

Or you could find specific focal areas to improve - faster ambulance 
response times, better training optimisation, diagnostic support and 
evidence collection etc - harder, than just general purpose inventory 
and reporting that GP, Pharmacists and Dentists need.

Keep in mind that the healthcare data is one of the most heavily managed 
with compliance, privacy and certifications. Even more so than taxation 
systems. And you are going to need a lot of domain knowledge who are 
effectively working against £££ and capitalism.

There are many initiatives of this nature that have started and had 
varying levels of success; I would highly recommend finding and reaching 
out to some of these efforts and people to either learn from them or to 
offer collaboration.

> So here’s a plan:
> 
>  1. Create an open-source healthcare discussion group.
>  2. Create an international standards body for backbone systems
>  3. Along with the NHS design and develop primary/secondary/tertiary
>     healthcare management tools
>      1. To build a free-as-in-beer system for healthcare administration
>         in the third-world
>      2. Introduce more free-as-in-speech software to the NHS and government
>  4. In a mutual backscratching exercise persuade the NHS to use their
>     management and development resources to take over maintenance for
>     some of the orphaned open-source utility and infrastructure projects.
>  5. By working with the NHS and third-world healthcare providers develop
>     a consultancy arm of the NHS to co-ordinate international systems
>     integration. Open-source by default.
>  6. By making the NHS the go-to people for large-scale healthcare
>     systems position them as the obvious people to implement universal
>     healthcare in the USA when the time is right
>  7. Make the NHS revenue-neutral. 

i guess my tldr; here is - its good to have vision, but execution might 
need to start smaller than 'change the dynamics of mankind'.

All the best! and I look forward to hearing more as you make progress.

- KB