uk-gap-map_take action

No institutional home for open code in the NHS, and an active retreat from it

openclaimed ·shipped ·
What is missing

NHS England's open source policies lapsed when NHSX was merged away in 2021; the policy pages were quietly deleted in December 2025, and in May 2026 NHSE adopted a default-closed posture on its source code citing AI-related security risks, drawing an open letter (74 signatories, May 2026) asking it to keep code open. Meanwhile the EPR rollout (95% of trusts by March 2026) locks in proprietary vendors with no open-code or open-API conditions. Partial coverage: the Apperta Foundation (clinician-led CIC, steward of OpenEyes) is small and industry-supported; OpenSAFELY/OpenPrescribing are funded by Wellcome (£17m over seven years) and grants: philanthropy substituting for an NHS core responsibility.

Why it matters

Health tech is where UK open source once led (OpenSAFELY ran national COVID research on open code) and where lock-in costs most. A closed-by-default NHS forfeits scrutiny, reuse across 200+ trusts, and negotiating power against EPR vendors.

What would fill it

A reinstated NHS open source policy with a named accountable owner; open-code and open-API conditions in EPR and framework procurements; and a modest NHS stewardship fund maintaining clinically critical open software, contracted through bodies like Apperta or the Bennett Institute.

// Build together: Counterparty: NHS England/DHSC; pilot possible with one volunteer ICB or trust adopting open-code procurement conditions.

Why urgency 4

EPR lock-in completes this year while NHS England just went default-closed and deleted its policy, so the window to keep clinically critical code open is closing now.

THE FIRST STEP · SMALL ENOUGH TO SAY YES TO
One trust or care board applies open-code conditions to a single non-critical procurement over six months, with the security case documented and reviewed jointly before anyone talks about national policy.
sources: digitalhealth.net · digitalhealth.net · bennett.ox.ac.uk
ATTEMPTS · 0 ACTIVEnon-exclusive
// nobody on this yet: be first
// no account: your claim posts publicly and lands in the thread below
COUNTERPARTY WANTED
nhs-and-care If you can convene one, open the dialogue →
THREAD · 0 POSTSremark42 threads launch soon · replies via github until thenopen on github ↗
// quiet so far. the dossier is the first post: reply below or take the gap.

More in Open source & public goods

№020Build now

Charities and civil society are locked out of government platform infrastructure

Government built the tools, published the code, then locked charities out anyway.

№022Build together

No census of the critical open source dependencies underpinning UK government and CNI

No one has ever listed the open source code the British state actually runs on.

№019State-led

Research software maintenance funding is a one-off pilot, not a recurring budget line

British science runs on software funded to be born, never to be kept alive.

Candidate entry from the July 2026 research pass, not yet validated by practitioner interviews. Added 2026-07-07 · last verified 2026-07-07 · review by 2027-01-07. Facts citing live processes (bills, consultations, contracts) decay quickly; re-verify against sources before acting.