- Palantir’s NHS contract is up for renewal soon, so UK politicians say how they feel
- The politicians are worried about the company’s owner, managing director and the general policy
- UK manager says Palantir’s FDP software helps reduce wait times
Palantir’s UK boss has defended the company’s contract to handle sensitive citizen data as politicians across the country demand a closer investigation into the company’s controversial role with the NHS.
“We have no interest in UK patient data,” Palantir UK Executive Vice Chair Louis Mosley explained on BBC’s Politics Live (via BBC).
This comes after Palantir won a £300m deal in 2023 to run the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), which is due for renewal. Reports say that all NHS England trusts were advised to adopt these tools from this month.
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Palantir continues to defend its UK presence
The FDP was launched to connect fragmented NHS systems across GPs, clinics and hospitals to improve waiting list management, bed and operating room availability and even supply logistics.
“I think for those of us who use the NHS, the lived experience is one of disconnected, fragmented systems that explain who you are to a different person in each department, at reception,” Mosley said in an attempt to demonstrate exactly where the FDP would play a role.
But British citizens and politicians have not been shy about voicing their concerns about Palantir’s CIA funding, defense contracts and owner Peter Thiel’s own politics.
Mosley also stressed that Microsoft does not have access to NHS data, although its tools, such as Excel, are widely used across the NHS and other public bodies.
Politicians from all major UK parties have expressed, to varying degrees, that Palantir should not be allowed to continue working with the NHS, especially when its chief executive has accused the NHS of being a “delusion”.
More generally, with Europe pushing hard for technological independence and sovereignty and the UK following suit, such a large influence from an American tech company might not be so welcome after all.
Increasing numbers of NHS staff in the UK are even reportedly refusing to use FDP, with reports of informal boycotts by both clinical and non-clinical staff.
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