Marcus Baw
@marcusbaw.com
230 followers 220 following 160 posts
NHS General Hacktitioner GP, NHS IT, Software Dev Everything Digital Health everythingdigitalhealth.com RCPCH Digital Growth Charts https://growth.rcpch.ac.uk/ Freelance Health Tech and Discourse Forum syadmin https://bawmedical.co.uk/
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marcusbaw.com
Starting 2025 with a short thread of my favourite, must-watch, YouTube video recommendations for anyone in Digital Health, HealthTech, Clinical Informatics, or trying to change culture in large organisations.

Don't do ANYTHING else until you've watched ALL of them.
marcusbaw.com
The comments on the HSJ story are very interesting and suggest that NHSE and their FDP programme are way off the mark here.

No amount of bullying will make people adopt an FDP that's rubbish (by all accounts) and powered by a company that assists genocide.
marcusbaw.com
A non-practicing pharmacist with an MBA who is now (inexplicably) the NHS' interim chief digital information officer says:

"‘Let go of your egos’, national tech director tells NHS leaders"

www.hsj.co.uk/technology-a...

Extraordinary hubris. Perhaps the ego problem is the other way around?
‘Let go of your egos’, national tech director tells NHS leaders
The "egos" of NHS leaders are slowing the service's adoption of new technology, according to an NHS England director.
www.hsj.co.uk
marcusbaw.com
A new episode of Everything Digital Health just dropped:

FHIR and Loathing in Las Vegas - with Joe McDonald

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWzORLTtVck

“if you pay billions for clinical software you are a ******* idiot” - Joe McDonald, 2025

Amazon ...
FHIR and Loathing in Las Vegas - with Joe McDonald
“if you pay billions for clinical software you are a ******* idiot” - Joe McDonald, 2025 Amazon ...
www.youtube.com
marcusbaw.com
A new episode of Everything Digital Health just dropped:

The Fall Of The Faculty Of Clinical Informatics - an overview with Mark Bailey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Udh1kqODn4

Apologies for the poor sound quality on this episode - I was trying out a new way to record our s...
The Fall Of The Faculty Of Clinical Informatics - an overview with Mark Bailey
Apologies for the poor sound quality on this episode - I was trying out a new way to record our s...
www.youtube.com
marcusbaw.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

> In his tariff pact with Trump earlier this year, Starmer pledged to “improve the overall environment for pharmaceutical companies”.

It is SOOO hard for these companies, you have to feel for their poor billionaire owners and rich shareholders 😢
Big pharma is at war with the UK, and the government can’t back down now | Nick Dearden
The industry has always wanted the NHS to pay more for its drugs; now it is pulling research and investment out of Britain, says director of Global Justice Now Nick Dearden
www.theguardian.com
marcusbaw.com
An interesting post from veteran Interoperability expert Kevin Mayfield on openhealthhub.org today.

openhealthhub.org/t/two-tier-t...

A "Two Tier Technical NHS" is how he describes it.

wonder what people think of the article and whether they have views to contribute, here or on OHH itself.
Reposted by Marcus Baw
drstevetaylor.bsky.social
Asking my hairdresser to provide unlimited haircuts for less than £3 a week, including online booking & an immediate response to emergency shave at 1min before closing

That’s a NO😂😂

Meanwhile the GP practice - Wes says you must do all that & more
Reposted by Marcus Baw
drstevetaylor.bsky.social
GPs are currently unemployed due to funding cuts to #NHS practices

£169pa / patient for an unlimited number of appts - £40 less than 10yrs ago in real term

GPs are increasingly being offered jobs in the private sector

GPs will have jobs but patients will lose out @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social
Reposted by Marcus Baw
mikegalsworthy.bsky.social
What has Yvette Cooper’s proscription of Palestine Action done to this country?

Beyond absurd. It’s extreme authoritarianism. These police should be arresting rapists & crooks, not neglecting those duties to spend time arresting citizens standing against genocide.

It undermines police and the law.
Reposted by Marcus Baw
reformexposed.bsky.social
Nigel Farage & Alex Phillips have been awfully quiet about Nathan Gill pleading guilty to eight counts of bribery relating to pro-Russia statements made in European parliament and articles.

Just wanted to refresh their memories about how they were all a team through that period.
marcusbaw.com
When asked in 2002 what she was most proud of, Margaret Thatcher replied:

"Tony Blair"

And he's still peddling neolib free-market conservatism in 2025 via the TBI, and enriching himself and his family while doing so.
petergeoghegan.bsky.social
"Like so many of these so-called think tanks, the Tony Blair Institute dances to the tune of its funders"

Was so great to talk about Blair, Larry Ellison, Keir Stamer and corporate capture with @georgemonbiot.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/george-mon...
George Monbiot on Blair, Starmer and the capture of democracy
I spoke with the celebrated journalist and activist about ‘junk tanks’, dark money - and how we can fight back
democracyforsale.substack.com
Reposted by Marcus Baw
petergeoghegan.bsky.social
🔴 KPMG being paid £8million to encourage English hospitals to adopt Palantir tech

But government refusing to give us info about KPMG deal

Labour MP and campaigners have decried secrecy and called on gov't to "ditch this dirty company”

New on DfS:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/uk-governm...
UK government withholding details of Palantir contract
KPMG is being paid £8 million to promote Peter Thiel’s tech in NHS hospitals – but we’re being forced to fight for information about this public contract.
democracyforsale.substack.com
marcusbaw.com
And while you're here, definitely subscribe to Cory Doctorow's newsletter for a low-noise, high-signal update on capitalism, corruption, regulatory capture, and corporate excesses

pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period.
pluralistic.net
marcusbaw.com
Why open-source? So it can be shared and improved upon by other unions across Europe, and thereby iterate faster against BossWare than the BossWare itself, at lower cost.
marcusbaw.com
Unions need to start building in-house tech teams, which build and share open-source tools that all unions can use and improve, to monitor and resist 'algorithmic management' aka BossWare.

Why in-house? Because that's the way unions stay relevant in a digital age.
marcusbaw.com
Here a thing you can do to stay turning the tide:

Make sure everyone you know who is a gig worker, member of a union, or involved in running a union reads this report:

www.etuc.org/sites/defaul...

HT the awesome Cory Doctorow, whose email newsletter is the single best source in my inbox
www.etuc.org
Reposted by Marcus Baw
paulpod.bsky.social
oh right, 2 million in ... 48 hours? I'm not really in favour of this sort of thing any more, but bravo
marcusbaw.com
Absolutely fucking NO to mandatory ID on privacy grounds.

Also: Why does identification mean a 'card'? Clearly the tiny minds in Whitehall think it's a card, hence the name: "BritCard"

But the world went digital, um, a while back. 'Cards' are for your grandparents.
Reposted by Marcus Baw
realinsatiabear.bsky.social
It's mostly because of *gestures wildly around at everything* but yeah, been there, done that, my friend.

Cory Doctorow coined "enshittification" to refer to online services specifically, but these days it can apply to SO MANY other things. 😭
marcusbaw.com
Sadly in the NHS it's much higher than 20%...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=51u8...

NHS orgs are completely paralysed by trying to discover what "Neighbourhood Ways Of Working" means, without admitting that nobody in the meeting knows.
How Buzzwords Spread Like a Virus
YouTube video by Wankernomics
www.youtube.com
marcusbaw.com
This episode rekindled some interesting chatter on openhealthhub.org about the idea of healthcare-tailored Linux distros...

openhealthhub.org/t/nhsbuntu-e...
Reposted by Marcus Baw
marcusbaw.com
A new episode of Everything Digital Health just dropped:

NHSbuntu - with Rob Dyke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu0A8v_OqC4

Rob and I do a detailed review of the - ‘two bottle of wine problem’ - NHSbuntu project which we ...
NHSbuntu - with Rob Dyke
Rob and I do a detailed review of the - ‘two bottle of wine problem’ - NHSbuntu project which we ...
www.youtube.com
marcusbaw.com
A new episode of Everything Digital Health just dropped:

GP2GP, SNOMED, the FCI and more with John Williams, GP and Clinical Informatician

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqILSLRkNx0

This episode is a little longer than usual, but I’m hoping still of interest to listeners/viewers...
GP2GP, SNOMED, the FCI and more with John Williams, GP and Clinical Informatician
This episode is a little longer than usual, but I’m hoping still of interest to listeners/viewers...
www.youtube.com