🆕 blog!
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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 this is huge
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@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.
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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 why on earth would they do that??! Madness. I can only guess someone has a vested interest...
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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 For not patching and auditing their systems they lost, they did not learn a thing or two
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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.
I’m based in Scotland. Does this decision apply UK-wide, or England only?
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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, even offered to discuss this. now waiting for response...
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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.
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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
Starmer is Labour's worst leader. In history, and that includes Blair. -
@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.
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@falken I thought that was part of https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue/organisation-data-service-ord ?
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@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.
Not sure the NHS in Scotland had the same setup, but will do.
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I'm quoted in this article.
NHS England rushes to hide software over AI hacking fears
National Health Service rules state that all software created with public money should be publicly available, but fears of computer-hacking AI models like Mythos have prompted a change in policy
New Scientist (www.newscientist.com)
Almost certainly too late.
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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 oof that's disappointing.
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@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.
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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 If they're afraid of "AI hacking", they should get rid of legacy hardware/software first.
Like, seriously. In 2023 NHS was still running Solaris 8 in production on Sun Blades 150 (workstations dumped into racks) and Ministry of Justice was running Tru64 UNIX on (emulated) DEC Alphas
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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/2024and2025If you think the PM bothers with matters like this, you haven't really understood how UK politics works.
No need to reply, thanks.
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@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/2024and2025If you think the PM bothers with matters like this, you haven't really understood how UK politics works.
No need to reply, thanks.
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@kevinrns that graph literally shows a drop since Labour were elected in 2024…
As, in fact, do most other statistics.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2026/02/waiting-list-lowest-3-years-battled-busiest-winter-on-record/You're welcome to be doomer about it. But I prefer a reality based approach.
Anyway, you concentrate on your country and we'll concentrate on ours.
Bye.
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@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?
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The UK has public officials enacting billionaire agendas & fossil fuel funded fascism.
Code security is essential.
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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.
