Disruptive Proactivity

Given it’s the OSM London Hack weekend in a few days, here’s something there’s already data for, but is still sitting on my todo list (ie, it exists in enough of a form to do, I’ve just not actually had time to do it).

The various NHS services (Hospitals, GP surgeries, Pharmacies) are all marked on OSM; and separately on the nHS website. There is not necessarily any link between those two datasets, yet, if provided with a list (or two), there is an incentive for the local bit of the NHS (or someone else) to confirm ground truth.

The NHS data isn’t absolutely accurate, and OSM is a best effort process; however, together, the reach and capability is greater than the two apart. A good outcome would be a list of discrepancies (by CCG or some geographic area) betwen OSM and the NHS lists, so they can be checked each way, and comments added to OSM where appropriate for updates.

OSM’s data taken by the big online mapping services provides direct benefits to the public for having an up to date list of health providers.

If you have any questions on the data, Emma Doyle at NHS England is exceptionally helpful on this topic.