Bristol NHS FT launches website built on new open source platform
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust has become the first organisation to launch a website built on LocalNHS Drupal, a new open source digital platform developed specifically for NHS organisations.
Developed in partnership with digital agency Big Blue Door, LocalNHS Drupal is based on LocalGov Drupal, an open source platform used by more than 60 councils across the UK and Ireland.
Rather than each NHS organisation independently commissioning bespoke website functionality, LocalNHS Drupal has been designed to enable trusts to collaborate around a shared platform.
Its developers say the shared approach is intended to reduce duplication and allow improvements to be shared across the wider NHS community.
Elliot Nichols, chief communications and engagement officer at Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As a newly formed trust, we wanted our new website to reflect the scale of our ambition and make it as easy as possible for people to access the information and services they need.
“By becoming the first NHS organisation to launch a website built on LocalNHS Drupal, we’re not only improving the experience for our patients, visitors and staff, but also helping to pioneer a collaborative approach that has the potential to benefit NHS organisations across the country.”
The website includes AI-powered search to allow users to search for information using natural language, responsive design and accessibility features, alongside a content publishing platform for trust staff.
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust was created on 1 July 2026 through the merger of North Bristol NHS Trust and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.
The trust serves patients across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire and provides specialist services to patients across the South West and elsewhere in the country.
Paul Jenkins, managing partner at Big Blue Door, said: “The best public sector technology is built in the open. We hope LocalNHS Drupal becomes a platform that the NHS community can shape collectively, creating better digital services for patients, staff and visitors across the country.”
The launch comes amid a wider debate about the NHS’s approach to open source technology. In May 2026, NHS England restricted access to some of its open source code to strengthen security amid concerns about the impact of AI models.
In December 2025, NHSE removed open source policy pages from its websites, which it said was part of a regular clean-up exercise for the NHS website.
Commenting on Bristol NHS Foundation Trust’s use of open source technology, Dr Marcus Baw, freelance software developer and clinical informatician, told Digital Health News: “It is always pleasing to see the NHS make greater use of open source software and I applaud Bristol NHS FT’s Big Blue Door project.
“The collaborative model of open source in many ways complements the health risk-sharing and knowledge-sharing founding principles of the NHS itself.
“Open source NHS-wide projects help to retain in-house technology talent and reduce our dependency on external agencies, vendors and consultancies.”