Wes Streeting must rule Palantir out of his NHS technology revolution
Wes Streeting is planning to put our intimate health data on central care records. It’s time for him to address the elephant in the room.
Highlights from this story
● Health Secretary Wes Streeting aims to revolutionise the NHS by shifting from analogue to digital health technologies.
● Previous attempts at centralising health data failed due to privacy concerns and mismanagement.
● Concerns mount over Palantir’s controversial history and its £330m contract with the NHS during the Tory Government.
● Public trust is essential for data sharing, and Good Law Project demands Palantir’s exclusion.
W es Streeting says he wants to “embrace the technology revolution” and grasp the opportunities to revolutionise our health by transforming the NHS from “analogue to digital”. But the health secretary’s plans will only work if he can persuade doctors, nurses, and patients to get on board.
Streeting’s central care records are the latest in a long line of projects to store our health data and doctors’ notes centrally so that medical professionals always have them to hand. Each one of them has ended in failure because they didn’t take enough care of private health information.
Just look at the 1992 Information Management and Technology Strategy, or Tony Blair’s infamous National Programme for IT, which was dismantled in 2011.
Any plan to put our health data in the hands of the clinicians who need it will stand or fall on trust. So before Streeting rolls out central care records, he’s got to dispel the dark shadow that hangs over our data in the NHS: Palantir.
This US spy-tech company has worked with US agencies accused of separating children from their parents, wrongfully detaining thousands of US citizens and forcibly sterilising women. And earlier this year, the firm signed a deal with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to provide “support for war-related missions”. One of its founders, Peter Thiel, even says that “the NHS makes people sick”.
So how can it play any role in holding our most private information?
Last year, the Tories handed Palantir a £330m contract to run the NHS’s Federated Data Platform. But handing central care records over to this rogue firm would be a huge mistake.
We’ve written to the health secretary demanding that he rule out any involvement for Palantir in his plans to centralise our data.
We know our health data could transform the NHS and improve the lives of people across the UK. But only if we can trust the systems that are put in place. Otherwise, we may all decide to opt out of sharing our data for certain purposes – and Good Law Project stands ready to help.
It’s way past time for Streeting to rule Palantir out of his NHS technology revolution – we’re not going to let it slide.
NOTE
GOING FURTHER
Streeting promises to toughen up smoking laws | THE INDEPENDENT
Where Will Palantir's Soaring Stock Be in 10 Years? | NASDAQ
Palantir’s Peter Thiel: NHS is a natural target for outspoken tech billionaire | THE GUARDIAN
Patient privacy fears as US spy tech firm Palantir wins £330m NHS contract | THE GUARDIAN
Ask Wes Streeting to rule Palantir out of his NHS technology revolution [PETITION]
Sources:
▪ This piece was first published in Good Law Project and re-published in PUBLIC SQUARE UK on 19 November 2024 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity.
▪ Cover: Flickr/Number 10. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)
[Read our Comments Guidelines]