British doctors are being urged to pull back from the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) after their union called on members to stop non-clinical use of the Palantir-built system.
The British Medical Association's (BMA) recommendation follows the US spy-tech firm's recent work with US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). The union cited allegations that ICE used Palantir's bespoke Immigration OS platform to process and link formerly separate datasets, including medical records.
Tom Dolphin, BMA chair of council, wrote in a letter to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), a publication owned by the union: "It is the view of the BMA that doctors working in the NHS can no longer provide the tacit endorsement that using a product implies and must immediately take steps to explore refusing any non-direct care usage of Palantir's Federated Data Platform, with a view to moving away from the platform entirely in time, when a suitable alternative can be put in place."
A Palantir spokesperson told The Register: "Palantir software is helping to deliver better public services in the UK. That includes delivering more NHS operations, helping Royal Navy ships to stay at sea for longer, and helping the police to tackle domestic violence."
Palantir won £60 million in non-competitive pandemic contracts, starting with an initial £1 agreement. The US vendor later secured a £330 million competitive tender to provide the FDP, which NHS England – the world's largest healthcare provider – said would be core to clearing its pandemic backlog.
Critics argued that allowing Palantir to carry over technical use cases from its COVID-era platform to the FDP may have skewed the competition. NHS England said the tender was fair and open.
The BMA represents more than 200,000 doctors in the UK and negotiates their pay and conditions with the government.
In his letter to the BMJ, Dolphin said: "While Palantir's involvement supporting the work of ICE is nothing new, the doctrine and scale of ICE's role in the United States appears to have shifted dramatically over the past year with violence and deaths seen across the US. Given Palantir's increasing centrality to our NHS, we must pay attention to the role Palantir plays in facilitating ICE's activities and the implications this has for patient confidence in an NHS working in partnership with them."
"Where the NHS uses technology suppliers to manage patient data, it is essential that patients are able to trust that their data is safe and that the NHS remains in control."
"If patients no longer feel able to trust the NHS to handle their data confidentially or worry that the personal information they share with their doctor will be used for purposes which they do not expect, this will undermine public trust in a confidential health service. This will affect patients' willingness to seek care or their willingness to be candid with their doctor – which would be to the detriment of the safety and effectiveness of their treatment and to public health more generally."
In a later interview with the BMJ, the BMA chief said: "Given Palantir's track record, including controversies in the US involving immigration enforcement and the risks to patient trust, data security, and NHS independence, we believe there must be a complete break from Palantir technologies in the NHS and no further contracts awarded."
The Register has asked NHS England for comment. The soon-to-be-defunct quango previously said no company involved in the FDP would be able to access health and care data without the explicit permission of the NHS. All data within the platform is under the control of the NHS and will only be used for direct care and planning.
In 2023, an NHS England official likened patient data in the FDP to information in an online Microsoft Word document. They told The Register that the cloud operator has access to that document, but the user would not expect Microsoft to look at it. ®
Source: The register