Thread by @CompareSoftware

Congratulations @MattHancock and @matthewsgould Great technical work by @NHSX to deliver @NHSCOVID19app . Here are some suggestions around the 'soft stuff' of getting massive buy in required to make it a success.

1) Use SMS Cell Technology to send a link to every mobile phone in the country. Start in hotspots to avoid overwhelming the system.

2)Urgently provide the digitally excluded a cheap but App-friendly smartphone. Internet access is a basic human right. Nobody left behind.

3) Download and switch on the app - win a million. Free lottery ticket with every download

4) Harness civic pride and local rivalries. Publish league tables of adoption rates. Start in hotspots, do Liverpool want to beat Manchester?

5)Boris's brand is badly tarnished by Cummingsgate so have the marketing done by local heroes and national treasures rather than government voices. We'll have @antanddec for the @GreatNorthCare patch.

6) Prime Time TV tutorials on when to pause tracing to avoid false positives and overwhelming testing

7)Incentivise venues for displaying a QR Code and citizens for checking in. There's currently little in it for them other than an increased risk of isolation.

8) Borrow @GreatNorthCare 's sociologist, anthropologist, human network engineer, and comms folk for further suggestions. Or add your own suggestions.

10) people who have downloaded the app can go to a Newcastle pub which has a QR code; check in, and meet people from outside their household ? Responsible behavior re app use = additional freedom @MattHancock @matthewsgould @NHSX #TheSoftStuff

11) if you are a government minister on the radio struggling to describe the restrictions in the North East or Bolton DOWNLOAD THE APP @NHSCOVID19app has all you need @BBC @BBCRadio4

12) After about 6 weeks Germany"s @NHSCOVID19app equivalent topped out at about 20 million downloads in a population of 83 million, well short of where it needs to be to make a big difference. Need to do better at the #softstuff @NHSX

@NearForm have produced Ireland's @NHSCOVID19app equivalent and acheived 1.2 million downloads in a 5 million population, impressive but only half way to meaningful use. can @NHSX better this?

13) scotland's @NHSCOVID19app equivalent has 1 million downloads in a 5.4 .million population. Again impressive. But still short of meaningful use. 3 U's Test:
Useful ? Yes. Usable? Yes. Used? -not sufficiently #fail #TheSoftStuffIsTheHardStuff ask @trishgreenhalgh about adoption

14) One week in, I hope I'm wrong but the @NHSCOVID19app is on the same failing trajectory as all the others, topping out at 20%. We need to shift the nation's thinking really quickly @NHSX @MattHancock @matthewsgould @trishgreenhalgh masks + app = an exit strategy?

15) Looks like @NHSCOVID19app is topping out at around 20% market penetration like most other attempts in this space . Is there a plan to get us the rest of the way to meaningful use? #softstuff @NHSX

16) we paid people to go to restaurants/pubs and spread the virus, could we pay them to download the app and use it? Or is it just £35 million wasted for want of a proper #softstuff approach? #TheGreatCovidAppSwindle

17) at Newcastle Airport they have their own check-in app. Why @NHSCOVID19app not the go to option? @NHSX #softstuff

Imagine the uptake of @NHSCOVID19app @NCLairport if you couldn't get a pre-flight G&T without it? @NHSX #softstuff

19) Make @NHSCOVID19app users exempt from new restrictions? #softstuff #toofar? @NHSX @MattHancock

20) if you are conscientious @NHSCOVID19app users you are able to fly to Turkey today #softstuff

21) ever want another deal with the NHS? Then don't do this: bbc.com/news/technolog…
You can pause the tracing functionality of the app whenever you want. #FFS

22) we're in Turkey. Watched an armed policeman fine a pedestrian for failing to wear a mask in a public place today. Maybe we could stretch to mandating the download of the @NHSCOVID19app ? Do you feel lucky?

23) a)shut the pubs
b)let pubs open when they are @NHSCOVID19app
Compliant - no app? No Admission. No QR code? No opening. No check-in? No beer? Operation Keep @Earl_PittStreet open.

24) we are in Turkey. They did 2 weeks STAY IN YOUR HOME lock down (the army delivered groceries to the shielded). Masks are compulsory but otherwise, life goes on @NHSX @NHSDigital @MattHancock

25) this sort of thing will need to be stopped ASAP by @NHSX

26) should we be a bit more relaxed about privacy during a pandemic? Back in the day they painted red crosses on the door of black death victims. Crude, effective but would definitely fail its DPIA @digitalhealth2 @NHSX

27) If the 600,000 NHS covid volunteers recruited 10 @NHSCOVID19app users each, this could be over by Xmas @MattHancock @matthewsgould @BorisJohnson

Reference the @NHSCOVID19app in all comms materials and in every press conference @MattHancock @BorisJohnson @NHSX @digitalhealth2

29) thanks for this @colinoscopy62 wired.co.uk/article/contac… If we've cracked this , we need to share it with the world.

30) add a dumb phone option to track and trace which works on anything that can send and receive SMS like Turkey have done with their HES code?

31) NOOOOOOOoooooo! whatever you do don't do this hsj.co.uk/news/exclusive… @MattHancock @matthewsgould @digitalhealth2 @DHCCIO #softstuff #allabouttrust #stopdigging #howtolosethedressingroom #FFS #TheSecretOfConsent

32) Get involved in this @NHSX ?

33) when you are a government minister on @BBCRadio4 being asked asked about how to understand the local rules , promote @NHSCOVID19app not the @BBC website. #FFS #SoftStuff

34) @NHSCOVID19app The App that Saved Christmas? Only if you download it and use it religiously every day. Download, Turn On, Check In, Save Christmas #softstuff @NHSX @digitalhealth2 @DHCCIO @HealthCION @NHSDigital

35) Delivery of a usable @NHSCOVID19app by @NHSX in such short order is highly commendable and could still set us free but the #softstuff still needs to be sorted out. Download numbers DO NOT equal success. @matthewsgould #MeaningfulUse #MakeThingsOpen #SocialMovement #techdump

36) Just when we needed a trusted leader to turn @NHSCOVID19app into a social movement, one appears @MarcusRashford -The face of the app that saved Christmas? @NHSX @MattHancock @BorisJohnson @matthewsgould

37) It doesn't look like @BorisJohnson is going to save Christmas but we still can with @NHSCOVID19app . But only if we all act together @DHCCIO @HealthCION @antanddec @MarcusRashford digitalhealth.net/2020/10/joes-v…

38) There should be a link on facebook's covid information centre to download the @NHSCOVID19app , better still it should be on the login page of facebook. @NHSX @MattHancock @matthewsgould

So the @NHSCOVID19app isn't perfect. We are the IT crowd, we know you have to iterate. Download it, use it, feedback any issues on it's built in feedback page. Help the team improve it so that it can part of our road map out here #EnoughIsEnough

And when you get the #softstuff #humanmiddleware #installedbase right you get to beat the virus like Taiwan. #TRUST @NHSX @DHCCIO @HealthCION @digitalhealth2 wired.com/story/wired25-…

41) finally @NHSCOVID19app gets a passing mention from @BorisJohnson but sadly at the start of #Lockdown2
when it will have little work to do if people comply. It needs to be at the heart of #unlock2 strategy. Also what is the #unlockstrategy ? To avoid #Lockdown3

42) Those who have downloaded the app get priority in the vaccine queue? #softstuff @NHSX

In the next pandemic I would be willing to share personal data and allow my location be tracked if it meant our Auntie Pat didn't have to die alone in a hospital of covid19 @NHSX @MattHancock @matthewsgould . @Apple and @Google should have done more. #nextpandemic

44) somebody @NHSCOVID19app got an answer for this? Confidence is key @NHSX @MattHancock @matthewsgould

45) good thread here on privacy versus public health Taiwan style, thank you @BBCRoryCJ

46) Another day another missed TV opportunity to drive adoption. We could have had "to find out which tier you'll be in download @NHSCOVID19app " #softstuff Come on @NHSX @MattHancock @matthewsgould sort @BorisJohnson out #SingleSourceOfTheTruth

47) @threadreaderapp unroll please