Bradford Uni joins Code4Health community
The University of Bradford has become an NHS England Code4Health community, and will now act as a ‘hub’ for the development of courses and apps.
The university, which has already hosted a series of pilot courses and coding workshops, says it is the first UK higher education institution to become a Code4Health ‘community.’
Dr Samar Betmouni, director of clinical pathology at its Faculty of Life Sciences, and deputy director of its Health and Wellbeing Centre, said in a statement: “This is a very exciting development [and] I look forward to working with a broad range of partners to expand our community and achieve our objectives.”
Code4Health was an initiative announced by NHS England’s director of patients and information, Tim Kelsey, in 2012.
His vision was to create a version of the US ‘Code for America’, which taught local government workers how to create apps and services, using open source and open data.
He claimed as many as 50,000 clinicians could go through the programme in just a few years. However, after a long period in which little was heard about the initiative, NHS England recast it as a learning and development programme, running alongside its open source initiatives.
In December, Peter Coates, NHS England’s open source programme manager, said it would look to create a “self-sustaining community” of “franchise” organisations running activities that would lead to recognised qualifications and real products.
The Code4Health website lists a number of ‘communities’ built around specific clinical issues or products, such as the OpenEyes and OpenMaxims electronic patient records. It also lists a number of ‘place based’ forums and organisations with an interest in Code4Health aims.
On its website, the University of Bradford says it will focus on three areas: the development and evaluation of e-health solutions, including coding workshops and apps; using Code4Health to support its existing work in helping schools with coding; and building Code4Health courses into its MSc degrees.
Digital Health News reported in March that the university had run the first Code4Health courses, testing out ‘app building in a day’ and ‘data in a day’ initiatives.
Clinicians who attended the courses said the events provided “a good taste of what is possible” and “in a short time, what you can do with an app.”
Other activities being supported by NHS England under the Code4Health banner include NHS Hack Days and other challenge events, and the Code4Health platform built by HANDI as a test-bed for skills and ideas.
