The NHS deal that has experts worried about the safety of your medical records
The government is being pressured to guarantee that NHS patient data will not be sold or compromised following the inking of a controversial deal.
On Tuesday, it was announced that a group led by US spy tech company Palantir had secured the £330m contract to provide the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP).
The new shared software system will aim to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients.
But concerns have been raise about how patient data will be used and Palantir’s involvement in the deal.
Technology secretary Michelle Donelan described patient data as an “untapped resource” while discussing the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in improving health services.
Labour has urged the prime minister Rishi Sunak to issue a “clear statement that NHS patient data” will not be sold. MPs have now vowed to press health secretary Victoria Atkinson on the new platform.
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Why are people concerned?
Palantir, which was co-founded by billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, has previously worked closely with intelligence agency and military organisations across the globe.
Privacy campaigners are concerned that their background with organisations like the CIA and UK Ministry of Defence could mean that the private data could be sold or used for other purposes.
Thiel has also previously made comments about the NHS that has raised eyebrows.
In January, during an Oxford Union debate, Thiel claimed that the NHS makes people sick and should be privatised.
He said that the high regard it is held in by the British public meant people were exhibiting “Stockholm syndrome”.
Amnesty International UK’s business and human rights director Peter Frankental described Palantir as a “very troubling choice of service provider” and demanded a “cast iron guarantee” from Palantir that health data collected from the NHS won’t be “monetised”.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said the Palantir contract was “deeply worrying” and demanded that it “must not allow patient data to be exploited”.
Responding to the concerns, NHS England said that “no company involved in the Federated Data Platform can access health and care data without the explicit permission of the NHS”.
Conservative MP David Davis told OpenDemocracy “that is not good enough” and that the decision to award Palantir the contract “will prove a mistake”.
“It is virtually impossible to anonymise health data simply because of the density of the data in our health records and it being all too easy for that data to be re-identified,” he added.
What has the NHS said?
NHS national director for transformation Dr Vin Diwakar said: “Better use of data is essential for the NHS to tackle waiting times, join up patient care and make the health service sustainable for the future.
"Patients come to the NHS at some of the most vulnerable points in their lives, and they want to know that our healthcare teams have access to the best possible information when it comes to their treatment and care.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp said: "We are humbled to have now been chosen to provide that software across England to help bring down waiting lists, improve patient care and reduce health inequalities."
How to protect your data
NHS patients can opt-out of sharing health data at any time - however, the opt out will not apply to the Federated Data Platform now being managed by Palantir.
The NHS online services page allows you to stop your confidential patient information being used, while also allowing you to make the choice for children under 13.
You will need to provide personal details – including your name, date of birth and postcode or NHS number before going through the process to opt-out.
You can also opt-out via the NHS app by selecting the ‘Choose if data from your health records is shared for research and planning’ option.
It is also possible to opt-out in person by filling out an opt-out form and return it to your GP surgery.
However, NHS Digital will still be able to collect and share data from other healthcare providers, such as hospitals, if you choose to opt out this way.
There is no opt-out for the FDP. The FAQs section on the NHS website says: "There is no specific patient opt-out from data being shared into the FDP, as FDP is IT software bringing existing patient data together from a wide range of existing clinical IT systems to process it for the same purposes as it is currently being processed.
The FAQs goes on to say that where data is currently used for purposes "other than the individual care of patients" de-identified data is "almost always" used.
However, it acknowledges that where de-identified data cannot be used for these purposes, patients have "the right to opt out of their identifiable data being used in certain circumstances, through registering a national data opt out".
This is the opt-out process outlined above in this article.
What is Palantir?
Palantir was co-founded by Thiel, who was an early backer of former US president Donald Trump and has worked with the US government.
It was founded in 2003 and was originally funded by the the CIA and has provided software to military, intelligence, security and police agencies in the US.
The Ministry of Defence in the UK has also used its services for several years.
Its software allows companies to make sense of and search through vast amounts of data – such as that held by the NHS.
Palantir has also developed AI tool that is able to identify people and vehicles in video footage.
On its website it says: "With good data and the right technology, people and institutions today can still solve hard problems and change the world for the better.
"We believe in augmenting human intelligence, not replacing it.
Yahoo News UK has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care for a response.
