Weeknotes E43

Each week I’m going to keep a running update of the work I’ve done & things I’ve learned along the way.

My current priority:

Supporting the Healthy Start private beta & assisting the formation of NHSX

Some interesting and shareable things that happened this week. Other more mundane things also happened…

Medicines supply feedback

Last week we were helping the team research with users. This time we were feeding back to them. In a sort of fantastic way, they all wanted to join a feedback session (even new starters who had barely been there 24 hours). We crammed into a small booth (no meeting rooms available) and went through findings. The vast majority had attended at least one session so lots of head nodding and reflecting on the things they heard in person. We explained that we should really do some research with the team itself. Need to understand further their pain points in managing how reporting supply issues works. This was pretty simple. They all seem bought into research, and appreciate the help we are giving, so we nailed some extra dates. We are going to reconvene after this research to help plot how we can secure some funds to make what currently exists better.

Address lookups

It’s been a while since I had to delve into the world of postcodes when delivering a digital service. This week I was hunting if we had a license to an address lookup service, rather than just having a public sector license to PAF.

Cool new colleague Nick helped me find the right person in our IT team who told me we apparently have an existing license with Hopewiser. As I thought it is predominantly used by NHSBSA colleagues but might be able to piggyback on something we are already paying for. Saving £££ every day.

Pre-paid card Trial

All action. We’ve even got some burner phones and a rota so if a participant needs to call us during the trial we can wear a customer service hat. There is far too much to report what the team has done but it’s a lot. We are learning with each step and are aiming to have it wrapped up in May. More to report soon.

Procurement conversations

I am really happy the team had the opportunity to trial multiple cards. We are learning all the intricacies of what is possible over the course of weeks instead of jumping straight into a procurement. We’ve decided to learn how cards could work then write requirements instead of learning after we’ve bought something.

That being said, it’s almost certain we need to procure something at the end of this. Thus, I’ve been jumping back in the world of chatting more in depth with crown commercial and DHSC procurement colleagues. We don’t want procurement to be a blocker in our private beta so pre-empting this i’m trying to find how we can move fast and responsibly in the procurement space.

NHSX website

There is a team, they seem extremely capable. I’ve mostly stepped back deep in the shadows, attending show and tells and being on hand for support if colleagues need me. I am more than happy to stand to the side of a team that is doing the best possible job.

Finished Apolitical trial

I finished the GDS Academy/Apolitical pilot scheme they’ve been running. Positives are that I like reading/being informed of things going on in the public sector around the globe. I wish that there were more chances to collaborate/connect with public sector people in other nations around areas of interest. Reading posts is alright but creating a functioning community where we can share best practice would be really cool.

Vitamins session

So vitamins discovery is basically wrapped up.

The quality of work is excellent and I’m very happy everyone in the team seems to have gotten something out of the experience too. To honour the work done we now need to take the research and recommendations and make decisions on them. We don’t need to do this in the dark anymore, we can make an informed choice on how the vitamins scheme proceeds given what we know. That tweet you can also glimpse some of the Vitamins Discovery mission patches I bought the team as a thank you. Might have to squint though.

Bringing on board more critical friends

On Tuesday I had a fantastic chat with a couple of people from Good Things Foundation.

They describe themselves as;

… a social change charity, helping people to improve their lives through digital. We tackle the most pressing social issues of our time, working with partners in thousands of communities across the UK and further afield.

They have experience working with vulnerable members of society and have even made efforts tackling digital inclusion in the maternity space.

I ran through all things Healthy Start. They seemed interested and asked good questions. Nothing nailed down but hoping if they find any time in their calendars that they might get on board being “critical friends” of the service. I embrace scrutiny and feedback so if we can get experts to review what we are doing and steer us to make a better service then all good with me. Watch this space.

What I’ve been reading

1. London cyclists spend 40% extra time in shops than motorists
2. ODI and NHSE looking at synthetic data. A real-ish data set but with no personal information.
3. Wombats have cube-shaped poops and like to stack it high on rocks.
4. How to create good content for people with dyslexia. Lots of colleagues with dyslexia so a good set of tips!
5. Exploring the UK’s digital divide. Vital reading for anyone building things for the public.
6. This article on bodyhacking is brilliant. Women have been hacking their bodies for millennia.
7. Card issues in Australia for public service - we are already well aware of these challenges.
8. Free or dirt cheap houses available in Japan due in part to the declining population.