Post
🆕 blog! “NHS Goes To War Against Open Source”
The NHS is preparing to close nearly all of its Open Source repositories.
Throughout my time working for the UK Government - in GDS, NHSX, i.AI, and others - I championed Open Source. I spoke to dozens of departments about it, wrote guidance still in use today, and briefed Ministers on why it was so…
👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/05/nhs-goes-to-war-against-open-source/
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#government #nhs #OpenSource #politics
@Edent I'm a little surprised to find out that they have open source repositories given how opaque the organisation generally is to the public.
@InsertUser as I say in the post, the NHS has been consistently good at publishing open source. Also a huge amount of statistics and other data are also released for free - often via excellent APIs.
https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue
@Edent oof that's disappointing.
@Edent
Starmer is Labour's worst leader. In history, and that includes Blair.
@kevinrns ok. But that has nothing to do with the blog post. This isn't a PM level decision.
The NHS has been put in a bobsled to hell by Tories, Starmer has done nothing to.change the destination.
Like he's done nothing on Tory demonstration laws, like he's adopted Tory lgbt bigotry, like he's continued Tory Austerity, like he continues racist Tory immigrant scapegoating.
Ain't nothing outside the PM purview.
@kevinrns I mean, that simply isn't true. Funding is significantly up in the NHS.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/bulletins/ukhealthaccounts/2024and2025
If you think the PM bothers with matters like this, you haven't really understood how UK politics works.
No need to reply, thanks.
@Edent you can't even download a list of hospitals any more!
@Edent For not patching and auditing their systems they lost, they did not learn a thing or two
@Edent why on earth would they do that??! Madness. I can only guess someone has a vested interest...
@Edent have you considered asking your Mastodon admins to moderate signups so people can't use your server for spam?
"NHS sides with Trump billionaires to increase dependency on ghouls like Peter Thiel, despite national security risks & associations with Jeffrey Epstein.
National Security Vulnerabilities deliberately promoted."
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/palantir-nhs-uk-ai-contract-b2967483.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c393w38lv3mo
https://www.ft.com/content/1ac7a046-329c-4036-b01e-f2291dde28ca
https://archive.ph/rFIqN
Cautionary Tale: Trump orders access denials
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/feb/18/international-criminal-court-icc-judges-trump-sanctions
@Npars01 I'm not a Republican.
This isn't about access to data. It is about source code security.
Forgive my snarky remarks.
The moneyed interests behind deliberate source code insecurity policies have their own agenda.
Security of data and data sovereignty are threats to those interests.
@Npars01 understood. But we don't have Republicans in the UK (other than the anti-monarchy lot).
What did your MP say when you wrote to them about it?
@Edent this will be the Palantir influence. Disgraceful and sad.
@NineStonesClose no. This is about source code and security. Not datasets.
@Edent @NineStonesClose Not sure how you can say this. Surely any software security breach would be undertaken with the aim of exfiltrating NHS data about patients. Exactly the data Palantir and their ilk would like to have.
I would say it is almost certain that the people who have made this decision would have been cowed into it by 'advice' that open source software leaves the door open to the data sets.
@Edent true, but I do wonder what influence they are having on other areas now their evil foot is in the door. Still very sad to see this, it’s a shame that open source is not even more valued in these times.
@NineStonesClose as I say in the post, you should write to your MP about the matter. Let them know how you feel about it.
“There are thousands of NHS repositories on GitHub. The work undertaken to assess all of them and then close them will be massive. And for what?”
“Even if we ignore the impracticality of closing all the code - it is too late! All that code has already been slurped up. If Mythos really is the ultimate hacker, hiding the code now does nothing. It has likely already retained copies of the repositories.”
”And if it were both practical and effective to hide source code - that doesn't matter. These AI tools are just as effective against closed-source. They can analyse binaries and probe websites with ease.”
“There are tens of thousands of NHS website pages which refer to their GitHub repos - will they all need to be updated? What's the cost of that?”
Perhaps Palantir have given Streeting a big lump of money, and told him they don't like open source?
@Walrus conspiratorial thinking rarely helps. You can peruse his entry in the Register of Members' Interests if you want to look for evidence.
The truth is likely to be much less exciting - I suspect a manager somewhere has gotten spooked & thinks this will help.
@Edent Ugh. Where I work it’s even worse – very little has ever been open sourced, but at least it was easy to share code internally. Recently our internal Gitlab has been reconfigured to remove the ability to set repos to “public” (anyone on the network) or “protected” (anyone signed into Gitlab), and only allow “private” (specific people or groups). Not just “default closed”, but “only closed”.
@Edent Thank you for highlighting this, and without any unnecessary hyperbole!
A hugely retrograde step; I'll certainly be writing to my MP on the matter.
@Edent Ask yourself (I am not English) do they really want to be under U.S. control? 🤔
@Edent And yet NHS adoption of Palantir continues.
Almost certainly too late.
As I say in the post, if you're in the UK *please* write to your MP about this.
Don't just pontificate online. Write a short email to your MP and tell them you disagree with NHS England's decision to shut down all their Open Source code.
@Edent email sent, now waiting for response...
I’m based in Scotland. Does this decision apply UK-wide, or England only?
@iamdavidobrien as I understand it, this is NHS England. That said, you should write to your MSP to ensure NHS Scotland doesn't do the same.
@Edent I don't see anything in the article about writing to your MP. 😔
But I've done so anyway. And echoed your concerns at https://danq.me/nhs-england-rushes-to-hide-software-over-ai-hacking-fears
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