Thread by @hadleybeeman

Today’s @NHSHackDay was our ecosystem at its best: clinicians, entrepreneurs, carers, patients, and developers all setting themselves a user need and building a prototype to fix it.

And it was a great honour (and great fun) to judge with @wendyclar and @GillianLeng.

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1st prize: Porteroo

Rather than porters rushing round to get/deliver routine collections of blood & specimens, this team created a sign for each collection pt, with a “if urgent, scan this QR-code” to send the specific specimen into the urgent queue.

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They built the back-end on a vehicle-delivery-problem algorithm, to create efficient routes & direct the most appropriate porter to collect an urgent specimen—and an app to show each porter where they were needed next.

Elegant work w clear user need + clinical benefit

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2nd Prize: Alexa skills on NHS data

This team created Alexa skills so a patient could ask their Amazon Alexa qs like “What is the wait time at Bryn Beryl Hospital?”, “How much would a prescription cost me?”, and “What is car parking like at Addenbrooke’s hospital?”

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They used lot of data sources, actually built an API during the weekend for their Welsh data (done by remote participant, but still), created something with practical use for patients, & provided us with a great case for value of exposing operational data through APIs

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3rd prize: Consent reimagined

They created an app to let patient & clinician build a customised consent form, so patient can understand risk in and agree to a procedure.

The app had interfaces for clinician to customise the content for patient, and for —

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— patient to review it… including with a video from the clinician that the patient could examine at home.

The app then produced a PDF that could be emailed to patient or clinician, and they aimed to remove thousands of kilogrammes of paper from the system.

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Honourable mention: NHS Top Trumps

This dynamically generates top trumps cards for child & adolescent mental health statistics from each local authority.

The team used python for data wrangling & to create the cards, transformed the data into CSV to work with it—

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—and created SVG from KML files to make a map at the top of each card, for the locality.

We were impressed w the amt of work they did in 2 days & their ability to communicate complicated info (how each area’s CAMHS services compares to others) in a fun & engaging way.

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There were loads of other amazing innovations — see @amcunningham’s thread for more — and it was tricky indeed to pick winners.

Thanks to the organisers and volunteers, and to all those who hacked. Your creativity & skills are inspiring!



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