Palantir Technologies in the NHS: Our concerns
Late in 2023 NHS England signed a seven year contract worth £330 million with Palantir Technologies, the US spy-tech company that established its business in defence and intelligence using its Gotham software, and is now seeking to move into civil areas of government. A central aim of the NHS contract is to provide a Federated Data Platform to unify patient records from multiple sources. While there is general agreement that centralizing and linking patient data is an important step for the NHS, there is growing realization that Palantir is not the company to do it.
Why?
Quality – Local NHS trusts and data analysts have questioned the functionality of Palantir’s Foundry platform, saying that it is not as good as the custom systems they have created and are already using. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust told NHS England in a private letter that adopting some of the tools on Palantir’s platform would lead it to “lose functionality rather than gain it.”
Vendor lock-in – Palantir retains all the IP rights to the systems it installs, so if a contract ends it takes everything with it. This could limit the NHS’s future flexibility, stifle innovation from a broader competitive market, and result in substantial difficulty and cost if the NHS were to transition to a different system.
Unethical organization – Palantir is led by Peter Thiel, who is openly hostile to the NHS. It provides military and surveillance technology and data analytics to governments around the world and works very closely with ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement body, in their surveillance and deportation of migrants.
Harm to the NHS – The nature of Palantir’s activities will erode public confidence and, with it, permission to use patient data. Surveys show that as many as 50% of patients could opt out, which will be bad for the NHS and bad for medical research.
What can we do? Use an alternative
Although NHS England would like to us to think signing up to Palantir is compulsory, a number of hospitals and trusts are deferring the use of its products. Trusts and ICBS from Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh, Leeds, Manchester, East Kent and Hampshire have all said that adopting Palantir’s system would effectively be a backwards step as it isn’t an improvement on, or even equal to, systems already in operation.
They are part of a rising tide of opposition that includes the British Medical Association. It voted in June to lobby at a national level against the continued introduction of Palantir’s software into health data systems, and to terminate all existing contracts that the NHS holds with Palantir.
Our local hospitals and trusts reflect the uncertainty of the national picture. Research by the Good Law Project and Just Treatment, shows that only one hospital is actively using Foundry.
Cornish NHS Trusts
Current information suggests that the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT) has opted into a contract with Palantir, whereas the Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust (CPFT) has yet to make a decision.
All NHS Trusts in England are under pressure from the government via NHS England to sign up to using the Palantir FDP system.
On Wednesday 11th March WCHW put the following question to the Cornwall Council Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny committee (HASCOS).
‘Despite the controversial nature of Palantir and lack of public scrutiny, the company was awarded a £330million NHS contract and NHSE are pressurising trusts to sign up to their Federated Data Platform (FDP) system.
Will the committee question RCHT and CPFT about their respective current and future contracts with Palantir?’
Our supplementary question was –
‘In order for patients and stakeholders to understand the legal, ethical and commercial implications of the FDP system and for us as patients to give informed consent about the ways in which our medical records will be handled in future, will HASCOSC call for a halt to any plans to start using the Palantir system until a comprehensive, independent and public consultation has taken place.’
In answer to our two questions the Chair of HASCOSC has assured us that not only will we receive a comprehensive written answer, but that this will be discussed at the work stream meeting being held the week beginning March 16th.
Use the link below to see the briefing paper sent by Medact (Health workers for Health Justice) for a comprehensive explanation of Palantir in the NHS, and a briefing paper sent to all Health authorities, commissioners and providers in England.
Briefing: Concerns Regarding Palantir Technologies and NHS Data Systems - Medact