A software company frequently targeted by left-wing activists over its work with the IDF and contracts with US defence firms and immigration enforcement has hit out at criticism from Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee.
In a letter to Preet Gill, the minister for health innovation and safety, committee chair and Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, urged her to cut ties with Palantir, which is contracted to provide the NHS’ Federated Data Platform (FDP), and to begin looking for an alternative.
“There is serious mistrust of the Palantir-created Federated Data Platform amongst both the general public and the medical profession”, Moran said.
“We are seriously concerned that the lack of trust in how NHS data in used, managed, and shared will act as a deterrent from people sharing their medical data and limit the ability of the NHS to release the benefits of the digital transformation that this Government is seeking to deliver, including through the FDP and the Single Patient Record.
"We strongly support the ‘analogue to digital’ shift outlined in the 10-year plan, but believe that it will not be possible to realise the benefits of these reforms if patients stop sharing their data due to concerns about how it will be used.”
“There are other tools that can deliver the same or similar benefits as the current Federated Data Platform,” Moran continued.
"As you may be aware, in a letter to NHS England the Chief Data and Analytics Officer of the Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network has stated that many systems ‘already have similar tools in use that presently exceed the capability and application of what the FDP is currently trying to develop or roll out at a system level’.
“We welcome your clarification that you would not mandate the use of the FDP where better tools exist, and believe the government's acceptance that better tools exist means that the government should exit its agreement with Palantir and focus on developing and rolling out those better tools.”
However, the US-based tech firm hit out at the criticism and said it was helping improve the NHS.
A spokesperson told the JC: “Palantir software is helping to deliver better patient care - including 110,000 additional operations to date, a 15 per cent reduction in discharge delays and a 6.8 per cent increase in patients finding out whether they need cancer treatment within 28 days.
“The software is also helping to deliver a Government programme that is one of only 30 out of 213 that has a green delivery rating, forecast to deliver a £5 return for every £1 spent.
“But that is what it is - software. How that software is used is controlled by the NHS Trusts who use it, with data - legally and contractually - only able to be processed strictly in accordance with their instructions.”
Palantir has come under repeated criticism from various far-left figures over links to Israel and the US.
The firm’s involvement in the NHS was attacked by Jeremy Corbyn earlier this year, with the former Labour leader telling a meeting: "Palantir is obviously a very big and very powerful company. They [are] at the cutting edge of high tech - the use of high tech in military and civilian purposes, the use of data in pharmaceutical research and the use of data personal people's data in military activities as well.
"Palantir is deeply involved in the IDF and what it is doing in Gaza, where they have an incredible level of knowledge of every person... and that has been used to guide the bombardment and the killing of people in Gaza.
Last week, allies of Andy Burnham, Britain’s next prime minister, distanced him from reports that he was planning to scrap the software firm’s role in government contracts.
The tech firm, whose founder, Peter Thiel, is a supporter of Donald Trump, is also in a dispute with Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, after he blocked an agreement between Palantir and the Metropolitan Police, citing concerns about using public money to support firms who “act contrary to London’s values” and regarding the procurement process used to award the contract.
A full hearing of the case will take place in January next year.
The mayor was criticised by Sir Mark Rowley, the Met’s commissioner, who said the move would make Londoners “less safe” and result in fewer frontline police officers.
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