The spy tech firm managing NHS data – podcast

The NHS does not have a happy history with major IT projects. Hugely ambitious plans have failed in the past, costing taxpayers billions of pounds. But the systems for managing the massive amounts of data generated every day are cracking. In some cases it may be easier for patients to physically transport their own paper documents between NHS providers rather than relying on the healthcare computer systems.

That is the backdrop to the NHS’s recent announcement that it has struck a deal with US spy technology company Palantir to manage data across its hospitals, linking information from different trusts and allowing the health service to draw conclusions about the public health.

It is a deal that raises serious questions, says Cori Crider, a lawyer and privacy advocate. She tells Nosheen Iqbal that there are concerns about essentially outsourcing such a deal to the private sector. But Palantir in particular, with its record of immigration enforcement in the US, will create problems for the public’s trust in using their date, even if it is properly anonymized.

Earlier this year, a Palantir spokesperson said: “As a software company, we do not collect or monetize data; we simply provide the tools to help customers organize and understand their own information. And precisely because our software is used in some of the most sensitive information environments in the world, it is built to ensure that data sharing is controlled, auditable and solely in accordance with customer-defined purposes.”

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