Scarborough MP speaks out on controversial NHS Palantir contract
The MP for Scarborough and Whitby has shares ‘many’ concerns about the use of Palantir software by the NHS.
However, Alison Hume MP has stopped short of saying whether she is opposed to the NHS’s use of the AI-powered technology or whether the Government should use a 2027 break clause to end the contract, which is otherwise due to run until 2031.
Palantir, the US data analytics company co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, was awarded a £330m contract to deliver the NHS Federated Data Platform in 2023.
Many MPs, local campaigners, and residents have urged the Government to use a break clause to end the contract next February.
“If UK companies can provide world-class solutions for the NHS, we should back them,” Ms Hume said.
“This is about supporting innovation at home while ensuring the NHS has the technology it needs to deliver the best outcomes for patients.”
Rachael Maskell, York Central’s Labour MP, has “repeatedly called for an end to the Palantir contract in Westminster debates and in national media” and has “urged the Prime Minister to use the break clause to end the contract” in favour of “publicly owned solutions and British technology”.
At a council meeting last month, Naomi Wigley, a nurse practitioner at York Hospital, raised concerns about NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board’s (ICB) use of Palantir’s data platform.
Campaigners have previously raised “serious concerns” about data privacy and patient rights.
“If patients lose trust, they opt out. They opt out of data sharing, they opt out of care, which harms research, service planning and the safety of those individuals,” Ms Wigley said.
Alison Hume, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, welcomed the Government’s “determination to put UK technology and sovereignty at the heart of the NHS’s future”.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “This new procurement process will help ensure taxpayers get value for money, patients receive the best possible care and sensitive health data remains secure.
“I understand why many people have concerns about Palantir and Peter Thiel.
"I share many of them myself, including his criticism of the NHS itself.
"Our affection for the service and the people who work within it is definitely not a case of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.
“That’s why I support the Government’s determination to strengthen accountability and reduce reliance on overseas firms when ones here can deliver.”
A cross-party parliamentary committee recently said Palantir shouldn’t play such a significant role in the UK public sector and stressed that it is not the only company capable of providing the ‘middleware’ required by public bodies.
The NHS Humber and North Yorkshire has said that while implementation is not being mandated, all trusts and ICBs are being asked to provide plans for how they will maximise the benefits of the NHS FDP for their patients.
The British Medical Journal reported in April that a backlash against the national guidance has emerged, with a coalition of human rights, health, and patient organisations urging every hospital in England to disobey an NHS directive to use the software.
Earlier this month, The Guardian revealed that more than two dozen hospital trusts the NHS claims have benefited from Palantir’s medical data platform are not using all or most of the AI-powered technology.