Re: 'spreadsheet software as "human middleware" in the sector'
Spreadsheets are "human middleware" almost everywhere, not only in the NHS.
My other half does a lot of consultancy work for various HMG departments. They usually want spreadsheets as their deliverables because a) the politicians and civil servants know Excel and don't want to learn anything else, and b) Excel runs pretty much on every departmental computer so the spreadsheets will run(*) anywhere. The downside is of course that bugs in spreadsheets are ubiquitous and a bastard to find.
(*) Some are so huge that "crawl" would be a better verb.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
