North Yorkshire councillors have been called on to urge local NHS leaders to halt the rollout of a controversial data platform developed by US technology firm Palantir.
Adam Rimmer, representing the campaign group No Palantir in the NHS North and East Yorkshire, addressed North Yorkshire Council’s health scrutiny committee on Friday.
He raised concerns over the use of the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), which is supplied to NHS England by Palantir Technologies.
Mr Rimmer told councillors that Palantir had been criticised by organisations including the United Nations and Amnesty International over its alleged involvement in human rights abuses and argued the company’s role in the NHS raised ethical concerns.
He also referred members to a briefing prepared by the health campaign group MedAct, which he said highlighted concerns around data privacy, patient rights and the way in which the contract had been awarded.
During his address, Mr Rimmer said the Parliamentary Science, Innovation and Technology Committee had urged MPs to use an upcoming break clause in the Palantir contract during a review expected to take place this autumn.
He said Freedom of Information requests had shown FDP products are already being used across a number of NHS trusts within the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
Mr Rimmer claimed Palantir’s involvement in the NHS posed “an enormous threat” to patient data privacy, public trust and the future of the health service.
He also expressed concern over planned changes that would see individual patient data transferred directly from GP practices into the Federated Data Platform from the autumn.
“NHS England have confirmed that there is no way for patients to directly opt out of their data being used in the FDP,” he told the committee, adding that the decision to use the platform rests with local NHS organisations rather than being legally mandated.
He urged councillors to formally recommend that the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board freeze all further integration with the Federated Data Platform on ethical grounds and encourage other integrated care boards to do the same.
Mr Rimmer also called on the committee to raise concerns with GP practices across the region about patient data being transferred into the platform and to advise practices to update their data sharing agreements to keep patient information under GP control.
His intervention follows a decision by Sheffield City Council last month to pass a motion calling on local NHS leaders and politicians to pause further integration with the Federated Data Platform.
In response to the questions, chair of the committee Andrew Lee said members were not in a position to take any action at that meeting but the issue could be put on the agenda of a future committee after further information was obtained.
A spokesperson for Palantir said the company’s software was helping to deliver better patient care – including more than 110,000 additional operations to date, a 15 per cent reduction in discharge delays and a 6.8 per cent increase in patients finding out whether they need cancer treatment within 28 days.
They added: “The software is also helping to deliver a government programme that is one of only 30 out of 213 that has a green delivery rating, forecast to deliver a £5 return for every £1 spent.
“But that is what it is – software. How that software is used is controlled by the NHS Trusts who use it, with data – legally and contractually – only able to be processed strictly in accordance with their instructions.”
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