Picture: Talia Woodin
What is the NHS FDP contract? How did Palantir get it?
Data privacy, profiteering and surveillance
Outsourcing, privatisation and quality concerns
How can we disrupt the rollout and get the contract cancelled?
Example Freedom of Information request
Advent
This useful resource is evolved to assist neighborhood teams, well being employees, BDS activists and sufferers organise in opposition to Palantir within the NHS. It accommodates months of analysis and investigation, and will have to mean you can to get began on establishing inside your neighborhood, industry union, health facility and past. We are hoping this useful resource means that you can construct relationships, connect to other struggles, and create areas of well being justice establishing that really feel pleased and robust.
Establishing in opposition to the Palantir contract is not just a Palestine team spirit factor. The contract additionally represents an build up within the state’s talent to surveil well being knowledge, which we all know will affect marginalised sufferers essentially the most. It additionally furthers privatisation and outsourcing of NHS services and products, and permits firms to extract and make the most of our well being knowledge.
This toolkit is born from the will to face in team spirit with Palestinians of their battle for liberation from career, apartheid and settler-colonialism. During the last yr, Health Workers for a Free Palestine (HW4FP) have organised boycotts, direct motion, political training, and different types of disruption. We floor our movements within the political framing of well being justice, and our marketing campaign in opposition to Palantir has come according to the call from Palestinian health unions to chop our establishments’ ties to genocide. This marketing campaign has grown some distance past HW4FP and is supported through many different organisations together with Simply Remedy, Well being Staff for Palestine, Medact and Company Watch.
This toolkit has a broader objective than one marketing campaign. The expanding militarisation, privatisation and surveillance of our well being services and products are a part of a much broader image of colonialism and capitalism. Med-tech is a key space of collaboration between the United Kingdom and Israel – we recognise that Palantir isn’t the one conceivable goal, however this is a extremely strategic one. We intention to weaken a key army supporter of the Israeli state, in addition to withstand the continued outsourcing, asset stripping and privatisation of the NHS and the infiltration of state surveillance applied sciences into the NHS.
Useful hyperlinks and contacts
Improve is to be had for analysis (e.g. what has been going down in my believe with Palantir) and recommendation on messaging, neighborhood establishing and technique. The Palantir marketing campaign holds per 30 days conferences the place native campaigners can ship representatives for dialogue and shared finding out, and has a Sign workforce for us to proportion wisdom.
Please tell us if you happen to arrange a neighborhood workforce in order that we will be able to direct folks to you in the event that they way us and we will be able to upload a consultant to this workforce, and achieve out if you want toughen, recommendation or analysis.
You’ll be able to achieve us by means of Medact, Simply Remedy, Well being Staff for a Unfastened Palestine, Well being Staff for Palestine and Sufferers no longer Passports organisers.
This online tool, evolved through Simply Remedy, is for NHS sufferers, workforce, and the general public to bitch concerning the FDP to their native NHS organisations.
You’ll be able to leaflet at local people occasions, Palestine marches, and out of doors hospitals, you’ll use our pre-developed leaflet.
You’ll be able to cross motions at your native union department utilizing the Simply Remedy model union motion.
Useful articles and robust studying
What’s Palantir?
Graphic: Company Watch
Palantir is a US tech corporate, first of all funded through the CIA, which specialises in AI-powered army and surveillance generation and knowledge analytics. Palantir describes its army applied sciences as providing shoppers (which come with america army, ICE, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and the Israeli executive) “mission-tested functions, cast within the discipline” to ship “a tactical edge – through land, air, sea and area”.
Palantir’s earlier involvement in state surveillance, racist policing and human rights violations contains:
Operation of predictive policing services and products to US police forces, proven to disproportionately target Black communities
Provision of services and products to america army for wartime operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
Improve to america to broaden synthetic intelligence device for conflict drones, proceeding this with the Pentagon’s Project Maven
Improve to america executive to track and deport migrants on the Mexico border, together with in forcibly isolating youngsters from oldsters
Improve to america spy-agency NSA and UK spy-agency GCHQ in device for mass surveillance of populations
Hyperlinks with Cambridge Analytica in its operations to gather knowledge on Fb customers and intrude within the Brexit referendum.
Palantir may be very specific about its political opinions. It positions itself as a supporter of the “noble, endearing and doubtlessly sturdy challenge of the West”. In November 2023, Alex Karp, Palantir’s Leader Govt Officer, stated:
“There is not any such factor anymore of being on each side. Palantir handiest provides its merchandise to Western allies. We’ve by no means provided our merchandise to enemies. We proudly toughen america executive.”
Its long run intention is to have vital keep watch over over maximum executive services and products, together with healthcare. “We’re operating against a long run the place all massive establishments in the US and its allies out of the country are operating vital segments in their operations, if no longer their operations as a complete, on Palantir,” Karp wrote in a 2022 letter to shareholders. “Maximum different corporations are focused on small segments of the marketplace. We see and intend to seize the entire.”
Palantir, Israel and enabling genocide
Palantir is these days brazenly supporting the Israeli army and executive of their genocide on Gaza. It stories being “proud to support Israel in every way [it] can”. It says it’s operating with Israel to stay them “armed and ahead”.
In January 2024, Palantir signed a take care of the Israeli Profession Forces (IOF) to extend its “advanced technology provision” to Israel in toughen of conflict comparable missions. Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp says he’s “exceedingly proud” of Palantir’s involvement in what he calls “operationally a very powerful operations in Israel”. Palantir just lately introduced an AIP (Artificial Intelligence Platform), which claims so that you could analyse enemy objectives and suggest struggle plans.
“This isn’t a small factor. From my point of view it’s no longer with regards to Israel,” Karp told CNBC In March 2024. “Do you imagine within the West? Do you imagine that the West has created a awesome way of life? Are you keen to confess you imagine that?”
Palantir has been intently concerned within the Israeli career for years. It has operated its personal analysis and building centre in Israel since 2013. It is usually intently related with Carbyne, with shared traders together with Peter Thiel and Palantir workers at the board of advisors. Carbyne is an Israeli tech building company evolved through former Mossad and particular Unit 8200 IDF participants.
Crucially, Palantir supplies predictive policing services and products to Israel used to surveil Palestinians, particularly by means of social media. In September, Palantir introduced its Government Web Services, boasting that “the functions that we have been ready to offer the Israeli executive…used to be improbable”. Similar to different ways of oppression, virtual generation and surveillance gear evolved and utilized by Israel are ‘field-tested’ on Palestinians and replicated internationally. For instance, its predictive policing services and products are these days utilized by america police forces to focus on deficient and Black communities.
Palantir is a part of a community of army, surveillance, funding and generation corporations profiteering off genocide, career, border violence and policing. For instance, Quadrature is a big shareholder in Palantir. As openDemocracy reported, Quadrature additionally has “vital holdings within the fingers producers Northrop Grumman ($31m) and Lockheed Martin ($6m); US personal healthcare corporations comparable to UnitedHealth ($31m) and HCA Healthcare ($16m); one of the greatest asset control corporations like Blackstone ($22m) and KKR ($7m), who doubtlessly stand to learn considerably from Labour’s plans to utilise personal funding for infrastructure; and tech corporations, together with Palantir ($71m) and Oracle ($8m)”. Quadrature just lately donated £4 million to Keir Starmer’s Labour Birthday celebration.
What’s the NHS FDP contract? How did Palantir get it?
Symbol: Company Watch
In November 2023, Palantir used to be awarded a £330 million contract to create a brand new knowledge control device known as the Federated Knowledge Platform (FDP) that goals to offer ‘joined up’ NHS services and products. This could most likely be the most important inhabitants well being dataset on the earth.
Senior Palantir workforce infamously described the corporate’s NHS technique as “purchasing our means in” and “hoovering up” small companies operating with the NHS to “take numerous floor and take down numerous political resistance”.
Covid-19 contracts
In March 2020, as the worldwide pandemic exploded, Dominic Cummings and Simon Stevens (then NHS CEO) known as a gathering on the best way to take on Covid-19 with a number of giant tech corporations, together with Palantir. Tomorrow it signed a deal for its device for use to create a Covid-19 database for simply £1 for the primary 3 months. This contract used to be given with out aggressive delicate. Matt Hancock used particular ministerial powers to bypass patient confidentiality rules and make allowance the corporate to procedure affected person knowledge
Within the following months, Palantir used to be passed a number of extra NHS knowledge and virtual contracts, all whilst standard procurement procedures have been paused. Its preliminary ‘pleasant’ be offering of a £1 contract paid off and through Nov 2023, Palantir had earned £60.5m and went directly to win the FDP contract itself.
Revolving doorways, Israeli ambassadors, M16 and cocktail events
Palantir’s trail to energy has been facilitated through cultivating shut relationships with senior NHS workforce and executive officers, in addition to investment suppose tanks comparable to Coverage Trade and Institute for Executive.
The tech corporate has worked with experts and lobbyists to additional its achieve into, and affect over, the NHS. Those come with, Peter Mandleson’s International Recommend, and Isaac Levido’s Fleetwood Technique. It additionally hired former senior figures from the well being carrier, hosted cocktail events for key NHS and executive officers, embedded workforce in vital positions, and made donations to MPs.
One of the most primary figures occupied with serving to Palantir get contracts right through the pandemic used to be the previous British Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould. As CEO of NHSX, he recommended to Ministers that they “used emergency powers to award the contract to Palantir”. Gould additionally had conferences with Palantir in 2019, months earlier than it were given its first NHS contract. He now works for a non-public tech corporate operating within the NHS.
Whilst Gould used to be CEO of NHSX he oversaw the advent of the UK-Israel Tech Hub in 2011. This Hub – based totally within the British Embassy in Israel – is a singular executive partnership that speedy tracks industry for Israeli tech corporations in the United Kingdom in spaces comparable to cyber and well being. It has deep links to the Israeli army and intelligence services and products. The chair of the Hub is Haim Shani, who till just lately used to be a director of Cellebrite – the Israeli intelligence corporate occupied with world hacking scandals.
Palantir used to be referred to because the recipient of NHS investment even earlier than legitimate choices have been made, an electronic mail change from 2020 published, resulting in accusations of an unfair procurement procedure for the FDP. Senior NHS executives concerned on this dialogue incorporated Ming Tang, one of the crucial key folks operating intently with Palantir in the previous few years. Tang, who’s these days the Leader Knowledge and Analytics Officer for NHS England, used to be additionally just lately a ‘guest of honour’ at a Palantir lobbyist dinner.
Any other key figures:
Dr Indra Joshi used to be director of AI for NHSX till 2022 when she took a job as director of well being, analysis and AI with Palantir.
Harjeet Dhaliwal has been a deployment strategist at Palantir since 2022. She used to be Deputy Director of Knowledge Products and services for NHS England from 2019 to 2022 and earlier than that spent the former 12 years both operating with well being commissioning in England, or operating without delay with knowledge in NHS roles.
Paul Howells used to be the chief of the Nationwide Knowledge Programme between 2018 – 2021 for NHS Wales, earlier than becoming a member of Palantir to paintings on well being and care.
Justin Whatling got here to work with Palantir from Cerner in 2021. He’s these days an advisor to CW+, the legitimate charity of Chelsea and Westminster Agree with, the well being believe being lauded as ‘perfect in display’ on the subject of Palantir’s FDP pilot merchandise.
Matthew Swindells, as soon as named the 4th most influential person within the NHS, used to be one of the crucial first NHS ‘stars’ to sign up for International Recommend after leaving his NHS position as Deputy Leader Govt and Director of Operations and Knowledge in 2019. Simply two months later, he used to be working with Palantir in his new place.
Palantir additionally has contracts with different UK executive our bodies, together with the Cupboard Place of work. Palantir gained a £27m border control contract, with out aggressive delicate, with the Cupboard Place of work after being presented to it through the previous head of M16.
The present well being secretary, Wes Streeting, is a vocal suggest of the FDP, with robust hyperlinks to the Israeli med-tech industry and the Israeli lobby. In a recent speech bemoaning the sluggish adoption of the FDP he mentioned “after I’ve heard folks say ‘I’m no longer certain about Palantir’, or ‘I’m no longer certain that the NHS has a truly just right monitor file on this type of challenge’, I’m sorry, however that doesn’t wash with me”.
Knowledge privateness, profiteering and surveillance
Who may have get right of entry to to the information?
It’s unclear who may have get right of entry to to the information shared in the course of the FDP as lots of the possible long run makes use of of the FDP have not begun to be outlined, however the brand new executive has stated policy goals to “make [NHS] datasets extra open to industry, researchers, and electorate”.
NHS leaders have prior to now said that the information treated through Palantir will probably be “pseudo anonymised” and Palantir is not going to have get right of entry to to “identifiable” affected person knowledge (with out the permission of the NHS) or be capable of “promote on” the information. Given its file of abuses, there may be fashionable worry that Palantir would no longer abide through this sort of restrictions. Moreover, pseudonymisation is designed to be reversible, and is still regarded as personal data by the Information Commissioner.
Earlier contracts with Palantir and the NHS have concerned knowledge sharing together with dates of start, postcodes and detailed scientific histories. Regardless of claiming that Palantir do not need get right of entry to to “identifiable scientific data”, NHS paperwork bought through openDemocracy admitted that the corporate will “collect and process confidential patient information”.
This cheating or misguided verbal exchange about its ancient get right of entry to to affected person knowledge considerably undermines believe within the NHS’s present assurances that Palantir gained’t have get right of entry to to this knowledge within the FDP. There are multiple inconsistencies and gaps in information communicated to the public about the best way knowledge will probably be held, for what objective, and with what safeguards over its use.
NHS England has employed a 2d corporate to toughen the processing of the information and confidentiality. Paperwork shared with the FDP board in March display that NHS England had won prison recommendation appearing an important side of this system – its privacy-enhancing generation (PET), to be equipped through IQVIA – lacked a legal footing to proceed.
Affected person rights and involvement
Many leading medical and data ethics experts have voiced alarm on the meant safeguards installed position to give protection to affected person knowledge inside the FDP, together with the BMA, who wrote to the federal government closing yr arguing: “The general public and the career have no longer been adequately consulted and reassured, and the scope and scale of the programme don’t seem to have been sufficiently established.” The loss of believe over how affected person knowledge could be treated gave the BMA concerns that it would fatally undermine the project.
NHS England has reversed its preliminary commitments and said that patients will not be able to opt-out of getting their knowledge used within the FDP. There was a significant failure to seek the advice of sufferers at the FDP. Those susceptible reassurances, together with the loss of readability across the applicability or another way of the nationwide knowledge opt-outs to the FDP imply that there are persistent fears over the data privacy protocols to be implemented through the NHS, Palantir, and others concerned within the challenge.
This loss of believe within the FDP – in particular one run through a non-public corporate like Palatir is a significant worry, because it dangers undermining the prospective advantages to be realised from efficient, depended on use of well being knowledge for making plans and care. This danger used to be highlighted by Dr Nicola Byrne, the National Data Guardian, who argued that the teachings should be discovered from the screw ups of previous knowledge centralisation efforts comparable to care.knowledge and GDPR if mass choose outs aren’t to undermine the FDP. This chance may play out, with 48% of adults in England who’ve no longer but opted out mentioning according to a YouGov poll commissioned by Foxglove and the Doctors Association, that they’re most likely to take action will have to the Federated Knowledge Platform be presented and run through a non-public corporate.
How does this build up the capability for surveillance?
This deal additionally comes at a time when the United Kingdom House Place of work has tried more than one occasions to get access to migrant health data and monitor their location. Current mechanisms comparable to Save you, migrant charging and knowledge sharing with the House Place of work have made docs into border guards and grew to become the NHS into a spot of policing and surveillance for some sufferers.
There’s a unhealthy monitor file of data being shared across government departments to focus on susceptible communities together with migrants and refugees, together with NHS affected person knowledge. Campaigners are rightly alarmed that the FDP will make this even easier, particularly as there may be nonetheless such a lot uncertainty concerning the complete scope of the FDP and makes use of of the information accumulated inside it.
The involvement of Palantir handiest provides to those considerations. It has supported america spy-agency NSA and UK spy-agency GCHQ in device for mass surveillance of populations, and used to be related with Cambridge Analytica in its operations to gather knowledge on Fb customers and intrude within the Brexit referendum.
Palantir is already embedded widely inside the United Kingdom executive, together with processing border and customs data and military decision making, making the deal much more regarding. It has contracts with the Ministry of Defence, the House Place of work, DHSC, the Cupboard Place of work, the police and different fingers of the state. On this context, Palantir’s insistence that “only the UK government” will keep watch over what occurs to the FDP’s exceptional choice of knowledge, isn’t reassuring.
Take action with Just Treatment’s online tool!
What’s going to Palantir acquire from the information?
The NHS dataset is most likely the most important whole well being dataset on the earth. The chance to check and broaden its device within the NHS is a extremely precious useful resource in itself, which Palantir may benefit considerably from. Amnesty International highlighted: “Even supposing [Palantir] can not stroll away with direct affected person data, they are able to stroll away with the profitable AI fashions constructed from the ones data.”
Research by Privacy International and No Tech for Tyrants into uncommon, unredacted contracts, presentations that Palantir seeks to incorporate “development clauses” in its agreements with governments, enabling it to fortify its algorithms or techniques in response to its shoppers’ use of its merchandise. With NHS knowledge subsequently most likely getting used to improve Palantir’s gear, this might in the long run consequence within the NHS contributing to the development of generation used to dedicate human rights abuses and conflict crimes, together with in Gaza through the Israeli state.
Outsourcing, privatisation and high quality considerations
Locking the NHS right into a unmarried monopoly provider holds serious dangers, particularly when Palantir itself has stated its intention to monopolise government contracts with its technology. Palantir’s device can’t be transferred to any other corporate or again onto NHS techniques simply. Which means that the entire of NHSE’s built-in knowledge device will probably be caught on Palantir’s techniques or will wish to be rebuilt from scratch. This actual factor performed out when the NYPD tried to end its use of Palantir’s technology. That is neither democratic or aggressive, and can lead to one personal supplier dominating the information control techniques of the NHS.
A non-public-sector-first style method the FDP is entrenching additional outsourcing and privatisation inside the NHS, and the FDP rollout with a unmarried carrier supplier in Palantir dangers locking the NHS right into a monopoly managed knowledge control long run that handiest serves the pursuits of the corporate. In January 2023, Palantir CEO Peter Thiel described Britons’ affection for the NHS as “Stockholm syndrome” and recommended the federal government to “rip the entire thing from the bottom and delivery over”.
This is occurring at the price of build up NHS capability and experience to ship these kind of gear in-house. Many docs and different NHS professionals have severe misgivings concerning the FDP, with the enforced rollout most likely fighting them from utilizing different, higher gear. Even the pinnacle of the FDP admitted that it “is probably not impressive”.
The CEO of Leeds Instructing Hospitals Agree with warned NHSE that lots of the FDP’s key options are worse than some of the services it already uses: “From the descriptions we now have of those FDP merchandise we imagine we might lose capability slightly than acquire it through adopting them.”
How are we able to disrupt the rollout and get the contract cancelled?
We imagine the weakest hyperlink within the rollout is on the native believe stage, the place it’ll be transparent that communities, sufferers and employees is not going to settle for this contract.
Picture: Talia Woodin
There are ongoing prison demanding situations to the contract through Foxglove and Just right Regulation Mission. Many open letters to NHS England, together with from prime profile docs and legislation corporations, were unsuccessful. We’re and can proceed to paintings with NHS England workforce participants who’re antagonistic to the contract, however should construct energy in our places of work and communities to get this cancelled.
The rollout of the FDP is closely depending on every believe adopting it, and growing native ‘packages’ utilizing it. The FDP will take a seat above all of this, integrating knowledge that it obtains from the packages. Those two diagrams are taken from NHS England:
To start with, the rollout started with pilot trusts growing the FDP. Every believe and health facility will use it fairly another way, and a few were operating without delay with Palantir to broaden purposes, comparable to Chelsea and Westminster’s ‘Cancer 360’ utility. The ‘merchandise’, evolved and piloted at trusts, if a success, will probably be rolled out or introduced to different trusts throughout England. In trusts the place the FDP is being piloted, the Palantir app and Palantir login have began showing on believe computer systems.
Listed here are one of the products we find out about thus far, each in building and already to be had (in case you are studying this and you already know of others please get in contact so we will be able to replace this checklist):
Reside
Incubation duration
AI Discharge Summaries
Assisted Theatre Scheduling
Apparatus Monitoring
PLV
Pre-Operative Overview
Radiology Bookings Productiveness
Shared PLT
Device Keep watch over Centre
Well timed Care Hub
Pilot
Thought degree
Most cancers Ready Instances
LLM Scientific Letters
Particular person Degree Costings
Device Analytics Workbench
No longer Began
DNS Prediction
Affected person Initiated Practice Up
Different
Which trusts are rolling out FDP merchandise?
Via November 2023, we had data on some preliminary trusts growth, plus plans for the nationwide rollout. Via January 2024, we had extra data on particular trusts’ growth and what merchandise that they had, and we knew there have been 42 trusts piloting the FDP somehow.
Trusts that we all know are piloting Palantir device:
Via March 2024, we knew there have been 29 new trusts being prepped. We despatched a Freedom Of Knowledge request to NHSE for the names of the (referred to now choice of) 44 trusts, and the 29 more supposed to have long past are living in summer season 2024. We have been refused at the grounds that this data used to be meant to be printed in summer season 2024 on NHSEs personal website online; this has no longer but been printed.
At first, adoption of the FDP used to be going to be voluntary. In August 2024, NHS England introduced it could be mandatory for trusts to implement the FDP, giving them only some days to substantiate their plans and two years to put in force them. NHSE mandating using the FDP is extremely odd and problematic, with unclear prison foundation. Since then, over part of acute trusts have signed as much as put in force the FDP.
Our most up-to-date FOI to NHSE in regards to the (nonetheless unpublished) checklist of trusts actively rolling out the FDP, and Palantir’s merchandise, used to be partly spoke back and we got a list of trusts identified to be in early engagement in March 2024. We have been additionally a success in getting a list of integrated care boards (ICB) that experience officially agreed to sign up for the NHS FDP Programme by means of crowning glory of a Memorandum of Figuring out in October 2024. Once more, it is a snapshot in time and will trade often.
What are the important thing messages of the marketing campaign?
Palantir are an unacceptable spouse – The NHS can not spouse with an organization complicit in genocide and more than one human rights abuses. Palantir’s AI will get advantages considerably from this contract, which might doubtlessly result in NHS well being knowledge getting used to fortify and improve generation this is used for human rights abuses and conflict crimes.
The FDP, particularly with Palantir main, will injury affected person believe in well being knowledge and furthers capability for state surveillance – The FDP massively expands capability for state and company surveillance of well being knowledge, and there is not any affected person choose out. That is exacerbated through the corporate operating it being Palantir, identified for human rights abuses and state surveillance, which stands to learn considerably from this contract. This will likely result in a loss of affected person believe within the FDP and different well being knowledge techniques, with identified unfavourable affects on care.
The contract with Palantir futhers the outsourcing, privatisation and asset stripping of the NHS – This contract permits a non-public company to transform embedded and very important to the functioning of well being knowledge techniques. The cash spent at the contract could be higher spent growing depended on and efficient interior publicly-run knowledge techniques.
Key calls for for NHS England
Cancel the contract with Palantir
Finish the outsourcing, privatisation and asset stripping of the NHS
Finish all contracts with corporations complicit within the Israeli career
(There are more than one different BDS goal chances inside the well being device. We’ve focussed on Palantir as a strategic goal however others come with (however are unquestionably no longer restricted to) giant tech corporations, Oracle and Infosys.)
Further calls for for trusts and hospitals
Don’t put in force the FDP in the community and/or pause any present rollout plans
Elevate those considerations nationally and oppose the enforced rollout on all trusts
Publicly and obviously keep in touch the believe’s place at the FDP
Provide an explanation for whether or not – and the way – sufferers can choose out of together with our knowledge within the FDP
How can I am getting began?
Organise a neighborhood workforce
Discover a workforce of folks for your native space who care about Palestine, knowledge privateness, migrant rights within the NHS, surveillance, privatisation or they all!
Take your time to get to grasp every different and set shared goals and intentions. That is crucial factor, however we even have time (years) to construct resistance to it, so that you don’t wish to rush.
Upon getting your core workforce, you’ll delivery common conferences and brainstorm the way you want to way this for your space.
Please tell us if you happen to arrange a neighborhood workforce in order that we will be able to direct folks to you in the event that they way us and we will be able to upload a consultant to the Palantir campaigning Sign workforce.
Collect knowledge
Take a look at whether or not your native believe or ICB is on one of the crucial following lists:
You’ll be able to additionally ship an FOI in your believe learning its FDP plans (see draft FOI underneath).
Construct relationships
Numerous well being employees really feel anxious or scared to organise of their place of job. Doing issues in combination is helping to increase believe and self assurance, and reassures you that you’ll do political establishing in combination.
You have to delivery with discussions about problems for your place of job that individuals really feel strongly about, comparable to migrant charging for healthcare, knowledge privateness and Palestine.
You have to accumulate folks in combination to learn this toolkit and talk about it in combination.
You have to delivery through operating political training occasions or workshops on Palantir and the NHS contract. Get in contact with Well being Staff for a Unfastened Palestine if you want assist with this – we now have workshop templates!
You’ll be able to leaflet at local people occasions, Palestine marches, and out of doors hospitals – use our pre-developed leaflet!
You’ll be able to cross motions at your native union department utilizing the Simply Remedy model union motion.
Marketing campaign
You have to use our draft open letter, adapt it in your native believe/health facility, and accumulate signatures from well being employees to the board of trustees.
You’ll be able to paintings with neighborhood leaders, native Palestine Team spirit Marketing campaign or different teams to inspire folks to ship in affected person and public lawsuits utilizing the Just Treatment online tool, or writing their very own letters and leafleting at hospitals.
You’ll be able to way your native union representatives (such because the Native Negotiating Committee of the BMA) to invite them to toughen the marketing campaign, through signing the letter and elevating the problem at their regional and nationwide union conferences. You’ll be able to additionally use this example union branch motion.
You’ll be able to way your native union representatives to talk about the potential for workforce refusing to paintings at the FDP (i.e. less-than-strike motion focused on the FDP). We also are exploring this on the nationwide stage.
You’ll be able to foyer your Royal School or different skilled frame as a bunch of specialist docs asking it to object to the contract.
You’ll be able to map and sign up for native well being and neighborhood engagement committees and conferences, comparable to built-in care board (ICB) conferences.
You’ll be able to foyer your native council and native MPs to object to the FDP roll out for your native space.
Draft open letter to trustees
This letter is written as though it used to be from NHS workforce, however it may be tailored to any workforce! This draft letter is lengthy, so be at liberty to edit it and alter in your native context.
Who to write down to:
You’ll be able to map the related folks with energy for your health facility or believe. This may occasionally come with: believe CEO and trustees, believe knowledge officer, medical director, believe COOs, administrators of transformation and development, exec/non-exec groups, and believe ethics/procurement groups.
We’re writing to you as participants of workforce at [insert hospital/trust/location] to specific our deep worry on the rollout of the Federated Knowledge Platform (FDP), and the provider of this generation, Palantir. As we can define underneath, we imagine this contract represents a significant danger to NHS values and believe values, and undermines our dedication as well being employees to advertise public well being, scientific ethics, affected person believe, just right knowledge governance and truthful procurement.
[Insert paragraph on current situation at trust (adjust depending on how much information available, please contact hw4fp research team for support if needed):
We are aware that X hospital has participated in the pilot scheme
We are aware that X hospital has begun using X applications
We are aware that the Palantir logo has started appearing on trust computers
We are aware that NHS England has mandated all trusts to confirm their plans to roll out the FDP over the next two years]
[Given X trust’s commitment to (insert various trust statements, in particular on anti-racism, inclusion, child health, etc)], we are hoping that the believe will object to the roll out of the FDP, and toughen moral, protected and truthful knowledge control techniques.
Palantir, the supplier of the FDP, is most likely complicit in human rights abuses, conflict crimes and genocide
Palantir is a US tech corporate which specialises in AI-powered army and surveillance generation and knowledge analytics. Palantir describes its army applied sciences as providing shoppers “mission-tested functions, cast within the discipline” to ship “a tactical edge – through land, air, sea and area”.
Palantir has an extended historical past of utilizing its generation to facilitate human rights abuses internationally. It supported america executive to track and deport migrants on the Mexico border, together with in forcibly isolating youngsters from oldsters. It supplies predictive policing services and products to the US police force, proven to disproportionately goal Black communities. It equipped services and products to america army for wartime operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, specifically drone moves, which can be identified to have focused civilians.
Maximum just lately, Palantir is these days supplying the Israeli army with “advanced technology provision” in toughen of conflict comparable missions. Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp says he’s “exceedingly proud” of Palantir’s involvement in what he calls “operationally a very powerful operations in Israel” preserving Israel “armed and forward”.
The latest Global Court docket of Justice (ICJ) ruling referring to Palestine got here in July 2024, with an Advisory Opinion that declared Israel’s career of Palestine illegal underneath world legislation, in particular bringing up forcible switch, racial discrimination and apartheid, and it known as for Israel to withdraw in an instant. The ICJ additionally laid out directions for the duty of states and world organisations and said that failing to behave used to be furthering ‘genocidal violence’. On the subject of the ICJs case on genocide it mentioned that if states didnt cease their aid and assistance to Israel’s acts, they’d be complicit, and this contains switch and industry that contributes to Israel’s army. Via supplying complex AI generation to the Israeli army, it’s most likely that Palantir is complicit in conflict crimes and genocidal violence.
With the entire above proof, we are hoping that the believe will agree that Palantir is an unacceptable spouse for the believe and NHS England, and rolling out its generation within the FDP will undermine the believe’s commitments to [insert] and injury affected person relationships. It’ll additionally compromise our commitments as well being employees to protective, selling and keeping up the well being, protection and wellbeing of the general public, and selling and keeping up public self assurance within the scientific professions.
There are severe considerations concerning the knowledge privateness, knowledge control, and knowledge ethics of the FDP
Many leading medical and data ethics experts have voiced alarm on the meant safeguards installed position to give protection to affected person knowledge inside the FDP, together with the BMA, who wrote to the federal government closing yr arguing: “The general public and the career have no longer been adequately consulted and reassured, and the scope and scale of the programme don’t seem to have been sufficiently established.” The loss of believe over how affected person knowledge could be treated gave the BMA concerns that it would fatally undermine the project.
The NHS has sought to reassure sufferers that their knowledge will probably be protected as a result of it’s “pseudonymised” or “anonymised” however the stage of element in a well being file method such knowledge can by no means be in reality confidential, with a small choice of knowledge issues being sufficient to expose the identification of the affected person. Moreover, pseudonymisation is designed to be reversible, and is still regarded as personal data by the Information Commissioner.
Those susceptible reassurances, together with the loss of readability across the applicability or another way of the nationwide knowledge opt-outs to the FDP imply that there are persistent fears over the data privacy protocols to be implemented through the NHS, Palantir and others concerned within the challenge.
There’s a unhealthy monitor file of data being shared across government departments to focus on susceptible communities together with migrants and refugees, together with NHS affected person knowledge. Campaigners are rightly alarmed that the FDP will make this even easier, particularly as Palantir has multiple relationships with departments across government, and there may be nonetheless such a lot uncertainty concerning the complete scope of the FDP and makes use of of the information accumulated inside it.
Those reputable considerations over the best way NHS sufferers’ knowledge will probably be used inside the FDP are exacerbated through the multiple inconsistencies and gaps in information communicated to the public about the best way knowledge will probably be held, for what objective, and with what safeguards over its use.
This loss of believe within the FDP – in particular one run through a non-public corporate like Palatir – is a significant worry, because it dangers undermining the prospective advantages to be realised from efficient, depended on use of well being knowledge for making plans and care. This danger used to be highlighted by Dr Nicola Byrne, the National Data Guardian, who argued that the teachings should be discovered from the screw ups of previous knowledge centralisation efforts comparable to care.knowledge and GDPR if mass choose outs aren’t to undermine the FDP. This chance may play out, with 48% of adults in England who’ve no longer but opted out mentioning according to a YouGov poll, commissioned by Foxglove and the Doctors Association, that they’re most likely to take action will have to the Federated Knowledge Platform be presented and run through a non-public corporate.
Such mass choose outs no longer handiest undermine the standard of the information for researchers, however also are prone to entrench well being inequalities as extra folks in some ethnic minority communities are prone to take this step, decreasing their visibility when well being making plans is undertaken. Failing to do that with knowledgeable consent and toughen from sufferers goes to aggravate well being results for plenty of inside the United Kingdom – despite the fact that the FDP truth suits the hype.
The involvement of Palantir handiest provides to those considerations. It has supported america spy-agency NSA and UK spy-agency GCHQ in device for mass surveillance of populations, and used to be related with Cambridge Analytica in its operations to gather knowledge on Fb customers and intrude within the Brexit referendum.
Earlier contracts with Palantir and the NHS have concerned sharing together with dates of start, postcodes and detailed scientific histories. Regardless of claiming that Palantir do not need get right of entry to to “identifiable scientific data”, NHS paperwork bought through openDemocracy admitted that the corporate will “collect and process confidential patient information”. This cheating or misguided verbal exchange about its ancient get right of entry to to affected person knowledge considerably undermines believe within the NHS’s present assurances that Palantir gained’t have get right of entry to to this knowledge within the FDP.
Even supposing there used to be general readability concerning the safeguards in position, and a public dedication to the best requirements of information privateness and ethics, it could – consistent with Conservative MP, David Davis – make little distinction: “Bluntly, it is the wrong company to put in charge of our precious data resource; even if it behaved perfectly, nobody would trust it.”
The chance to check and broaden its device within the NHS is a extremely precious useful resource in itself, which Palantir may benefit considerably from. Amnesty International highlighted: “Even supposing (Palantir) can not stroll away with direct affected person data, they are able to stroll away with the profitable AI fashions constructed from the ones data.” Research by Privacy International and No Tech for Tyrants into uncommon, unredacted contracts, presentations that Palantir seeks to incorporate “development clauses” in its agreements with governments, enabling it to fortify its algorithms or techniques in response to its shoppers’ use of its merchandise. With NHS knowledge subsequently most likely getting used to improve Palantir’s gear, this might in the long run consequence within the NHS contributing to the development of generation used to dedicate human rights abuses and conflict crimes, together with in Gaza through the Israeli state.
With the entire above proof, we are hoping the believe realises the danger to knowledge privateness this contract gifts, and the prospective follow-on injury to affected person believe in all well being knowledge techniques. Earlier device rollouts were paused and reversed because of affected person and well being employee considerations over knowledge privateness, and we imagine the FDP will meet the similar problems. We imagine the federal government has didn’t uphold its prison duties to protected knowledgeable consent for using affected person knowledge, reveal the prison footing for the FDP, and adequately deal with the worries of docs and sufferers alike.
We’ve severe considerations concerning the privatisation and outsourcing of well being knowledge control techniques to firms
We’ve severe considerations that such crucial NHS serve as as knowledge control techniques is being outsourced to a non-public corporate. Locking the NHS right into a unmarried monopoly provider holds serious dangers, particularly when Palantir themselves have stated its intention to monopolise government contracts with its technology. Palantir’s device can’t be transferred to any other corporate or again onto NHS techniques simply. Which means that the entire of NHSE’s built-in knowledge device will probably be caught on Palantir’s techniques or will wish to be rebuilt from scratch. This actual factor performed out when the NYPD tried to end its use of Palantir’s technology. That is neither democratic or aggressive, and can lead to one personal supplier dominating the information control techniques of the NHS. In January, 2023 Palantir CEO Peter Thiel described Britons’ affection for the NHS as “Stockholm syndrome” and recommended the federal government to “rip the entire thing from the bottom and delivery over”.
The procurement procedure for Palantir raises severe considerations for mismanagement, ministerial intervention and unfair procurement processes. Palantir first of all entered the NHS through offering its services and products for simply £1, in a freelance that used to be given with out aggressive delicate. The Well being Minister on the time, Matt Hancock, used particular ministerial powers to bypass patient confidentiality rules and make allowance the corporate to procedure affected person knowledge. Within the following months, Palantir used to be passed a number of extra NHS knowledge and virtual contracts, all whilst standard procurement procedures have been paused.
This gave Palantir vital benefits within the FDP procurement procedure. Palantir used to be referred to because the recipient even earlier than legitimate choices have been made, an electronic mail change from 2020 published, resulting in accusations of an unfair procurement procedure for the FDP. As well as, NHS England’s resolution to mandate using the FDP is extremely odd, and has an unclear prison foundation.
We are hoping the trusts agree that this raises severe considerations of an unfair procurement procedure, placing essential NHS sources prone to failing to protected worth for cash. As an alternative of outsourcing precious monetary and body of workers sources, and locking in dependency on personal corporations, we imagine the NHS, and the believe, will have to center of attention on growing robust in-house knowledge control functions.
Our requests to the believe are as follows:
Don’t put in force the FDP in the community and/or pause any present rollout plans
Elevate those considerations nationally and oppose the enforced rollout on all trusts
Publicly and obviously keep in touch the believe’s place at the FDP
Provide an explanation for whether or not – and the way – sufferers can choose out of together with their knowledge within the FDP
Instance Freedom of Knowledge request
Please ship your FOI utilizing the website online WhatDoTheyKnow, this means that the responses are public and simply shareable.
To whom it should worry,
This can be a Freedom of Knowledge request for info in relation to the letter this summer season from Dame Emily Lawson and Vin Diwaker, to all believe executives and COOs, asking them to substantiate “that [they] plan to undertake the NHS FDP within the subsequent two years”.
Supply: https://www.digitalhealth.internet/2024/08/nhs-england-says-trusts-must-start-using-fdp-within-two-years/
I want to see all emails, paperwork, attachments, and some other types of reaction in relation to this request between [INSERT TRUST NAME HERE] and the 2 senior NHS officers.
It’s public knowledge that you’ve got been requested to tell the NHS while you “envisage adopting already to be had nationally commissioned native Merchandise”.
I want to know when in particular you intend to start out adopting the FDP and who you might be naming as lead (as is asked within the letter)?
I might additionally like to grasp what your plans are for a way you’re going to maximise some great benefits of the Federated Knowledge Platform to ship higher joined-up take care of their sufferers inside the subsequent two years (once more, requested of you within the above discussed letter)?
Yours,
[INSERT NAME]
