How a US computer firm could soon get its hands on YOUR NHS medical records

Anyone who has ever had to navigate nan NHS arsenic a diligent aliases carer will nary uncertainty cognize nan vexation and fearfulness often caused by this immense organisation’s woeful inability to pass wrong itself.

Your aesculapian records are mislaid, an assignment wasn’t made — aliases you weren’t told astir it; clinics usage telephone numbers and addresses you’ve moved connected from years ago. Or clinicians don’t look to cognize astir nan outcomes of erstwhile appointments pinch different attraction teams.

But could nan NHS’s near manus yet soon cognize what its correct manus is doing? Early adjacent month, NHS England is to motion a £480 cardinal statement to build a maestro data-controlling system, linking up each nan machine systems utilized crossed hospitals, GP practices and admin departments truthful they tin ‘talk’ to each other.

It sounds wonderful, and yet nan Federated Data Platform (FDP), arsenic it’s grandly known, whitethorn travel astatine a price, pass data-security experts — nan extremity of our astir friendly aesculapian privacy.

They foretell it will consequence successful our specifications falling into nan clutches of world corporates and artificial intelligence (AI) brains that could, connected nan ground of our aesculapian conditions, artifact our credit, cancel wellness insurance, and harm our chances — aliases our children’s — of getting a mortgage.

But we’d ne'er cognize why specified calamities had befallen us.

What’s more, campaigners say, we whitethorn person nary prime complete this — arsenic our accusation will spell into this immense caller NHS database sloppy of what we say.

At nan bosom of each this lies a U.S. computer-analytics company: Palantir.

It’s named aft nan crystal balls from Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings, successful which Palantir intends ‘to watch complete from afar’.

Unnerving sanction aside, Palantir rings siren bells pinch privateness campaigners. For while it’s worked to thief assistance agencies to present desperately needed supplies, for instance, its services person besides been utilized by nan CIA and different Western militaries.

Critics are besides concerned by statements made by Palantir president Peter Thiel successful January, erstwhile he declared that ‘the NHS makes group sick’ and called nan public’s support for nan wellness work arsenic akin to ‘Stockholm syndrome’ (the psychological information wherever victims place pinch their abusers).

Palantir is 1 of 3 companies bidding for nan FDP statement (the others are reported to beryllium IBM and nan UK information exertion institution Quantexa), but nan commentators Good Health contacted work together it’s considered definite to triumph it, acknowledgment to its close, if controversial, narration pinch nan Government.

Back successful March 2020, arsenic Covid-19 was being declared a pandemic, Palantir was invited to 10 Downing Street to talk really it could thief nan Government’s response.

Within days, nan company’s engineers were search A&E units’ capacity successful bid to support them medically supplied. For this Palantir charged only £1.

Such generosity has apparently reaped rewards successful position of an entrée into nan NHS.

Palantir has since acquired wellness contracts worthy £60million, pinch FDP promising to beryllium nan astir lucrative of all.

One of those pinch reservations astir Palantir getting nan FDP statement is Dr Vince Istvan Madai, visiting professor of aesculapian informatics astatine Birmingham City University, who researches really AI tin beryllium utilized successful healthcare successful a trustworthy way.

He told Good Health that, successful his view, it seems ‘quite extreme’ to let a commercialized institution to execute information activity and AI-related tasks wrong nan NHS. Dr Madai precocious co-authored a insubstantial successful nan diary Frontiers successful Genetics examining really European governments are trying to equilibrium nan risks of reaching patients’ privateness against nan imaginable benefits of utilizing aesculapian information to amended wellness ervices.

‘Simply put, you can’t person your barroom and eat it,’ he warns. ‘Increasing nan readiness of integer wellness information will apt amended healthcare services. But it will inevitably lead to nan anticipation of misuse. And if location is simply a possibility, past it will surely happen.’

At Privacy International, a UK-based kindness that defends privateness rights, its ineligible officer, Dr Tom West, told Good Health he fears that patients’ aesculapian information will leak into nan world web of decision-making package algorithms that progressively stitchery accusation connected group and make important calls connected whether, for example, banks should lend to a customer aliases insurers see an applicant worthy of cover.

He warns that nan script of commercialized companies getting clasp of our information successful ways that couldn’t beryllium tracked ‘could hap … it’s a very analyzable rumor astir really nan information ties together. The problem is that owed to nan obscure ways successful which nan algorithms work, we can’t understand really decisions are made.’ Meanwhile, superior questions stay complete whether nan caller FDP strategy — sloppy of whoever wins nan statement — will really thief patients.

The NHS has shape connected commissioning computerisation schemes that fail. The immense National Programme for IT, which began successful 2005 nether Tony Blair to merge NHS systems, was branded a nonaccomplishment and dismantled wholly successful 2011, astatine a costs to nan payer of £10billion.

Cori Crider, a lawyer and co-founder of Foxglove, a UK-based group that campaigns against nan unfair usage of computerised data, told Good Health that a Palantir system, called Foundry, which is already being piloted successful NHS hospitals, is having problems; she points to NHS information that ‘shows that of 36 tests of Palantir’s Foundry kit, astatine slightest 11 person been paused aliases suspended. I judge it’s because it didn’t work’, she says.

She adds that NHS computerisation efforts whitethorn besides neglect if patients opt retired en masse aliases discontinue utilizing NHS services. ‘Trust successful nationalist wellness is captious for nationalist wellness to succeed. When group suffer spot you spot things specified arsenic vaccination-refusal break out,’ she says. A YouGov study commissioned by Foxglove and nan Doctors’ Association UK this twelvemonth suggested that astir half of adults who presently let nan NHS to usage their information — immoderate 20 cardinal group — will garbage to proceed if nan FDP is introduced and tally by a backstage company. 

Cori Crider says: ‘More than 5 cardinal group are already opted retired of sharing data, and erstwhile opted out, group thin to enactment opted out. Such wide losses of information mean that nan NHS can’t decently scheme for things specified arsenic a caller flu season.’

Even if patients are told that their information will beryllium anonymised, she says: ‘AI tin spot done specified attempts and subordinate up information from different sources to place individuals’.

In fact, it seems that patients won’t moreover beryllium fixed nan action to opt retired of having their information input into FDP. Until this month, nan NHS England website said it was looking astatine ways to ‘optimise’ nan diligent FDP opt-out process.

But now, without announcement, this has changed to opportunity that patients ‘can only opt retired of sharing their information for investigation and planning, not for nonstop diligent care’. Steve Brine, nan Conservative MP who chairs nan Commons Health & Social Care Select Committee, told Good Health: ‘We heard important nationalist concerns astir trust, transparency and information information during our enquiry [earlier this year] connected integer translator successful nan NHS.

‘The Department of Health and Social Care has acknowledged it needs to do much to reassure group astir nan information of information gathered by nan NHS and successful communicating nan benefits of integer healthcare.’

Meanwhile, different concerns person emerged complete nan Government’s narration pinch Palantir.

In March 2022, nan institution provided six months’ free machine support to negociate nan Homes for Ukraine scheme. Then, without putting nan activity retired to commercialized tender, nan Government awarded it a 12-month statement worthy £4.5million to proceed moving nan machine project.

Last week, nan National Audit Office published a damning investigation, describing this arsenic ‘a type of statement nan Government Chief Commercial Officer (GCCO) subsequently warned against’.

It added that nan GCCO has written to Palantir ‘noting his interest astir nan believe of offering services to nationalist assemblage customers for a zero aliases nominal costs to summation a commercialized foothold’.

In September this year, Palantir was fixed a further 12-month statement (worth £5.5 million) to tally nan Ukraine project.

Tom McArdle, wellness lead astatine Palantir, told Good Health that campaigners’ worries are misplaced. ‘We supply machine package — we’re not successful nan business of collecting, mining aliases trading data,’ he says. ‘Customers clasp afloat ownership of their data. Palantir is granted nary authorities to it and tin only transportation retired nan processing it is instructed to do by nan customer, pinch UK Government customer information only hosted successful nan UK.

‘Our way grounds moving pinch immoderate of nan world’s astir captious organisations connected their astir delicate data, shows really we person world-leading information and information governance capabilities.’

He added that president Mr Thiel’s comments astir nan NHS were made ‘as a backstage individual. Our CEO, Alex Karp, has said he firmly disagrees’.

Palantir told Good Health that its Foundry strategy is unrecorded successful 36 trusts, pinch 24 now ‘actively realising benefits’, which nan Government describes arsenic ‘treating patients faster’.

NHS England said: ‘[We are] conducting a adjacent and transparent procurement process for a supplier of nan FDP, successful statement pinch nationalist contracts regulations.

‘The NHS doesn’t return spot for granted, which is why nan successful supplier of nan FDP will run only nether nan instruction of nan NHS and will not power nan data, nor will they beryllium permitted to access, usage aliases stock it for their ain purposes.

‘We person besides put successful spot definitive safeguards to forestall immoderate supplier gaining a ascendant domiciled successful NHS information management.’

DYNAMIC DUOS: Nutrients that activity champion together

This week: Beta-carotene and fats:

‘Beta-carotene is simply a powerful, protective antioxidant recovered successful a wide scope of coloured consequence and veg, including carrots, apricots, mango, saccharine potatoes and acheronian greenish leafy vegetables,’ says dietitian Orli Rhodes. ‘It’s captious for patient skin, and eyes and immunity.’ 

As it’s fat soluble, beta-carotene is amended absorbed erstwhile foods containing it are eaten pinch fat, specified arsenic oliva oil, butter, avocado aliases nuts. 

It’s not power sensitive: successful fact, greater amounts go disposable erstwhile cooked. Try carrots roasted successful oliva oil; dried apricots stewed pinch spices, and full-fat yoghurt; spinach and kale crockery pinch oliva lipid dressing and conifer nuts.