NHS patients urge GPs to prevent sharing of data with Palantir's platform
Our campaign to kick Palantir out of the NHS has reached a critical moment. Right now, the government is deciding whether or not to cancel their £330m NHS contract.
Our movement has been piling on the pressure through every possible avenue. That’s why, over the last few weeks, thousands of NHS patients have been writing to their GPs to raise concerns about Palantir.
Why? Because GPs are official 'data controllers', meaning they can control how data flows into other parts of the health system, and can therefore prevent GP patient data from entering Palantir's FDP.
So we created a template letter which asks GP practices to change their Data Sharing Agreements with ICBs to prevent data flowing into Palantir's platform.
Many patients have been sending us the responses they’ve received from their GP surgeries, and these replies show that many GPs share patients’ major concerns about Palantir’s role in the NHS.
Here are just some quotes we’ve seen from GPs across England ⬇️
“I am also totally against Palantir's involvement in the NHS”
“As a GP partnership, we will maintain our stance of refusing to share any practice data until we are forced by law, unless it is appropriate”
“We share the concerns you have raised regarding patient privacy, data protection, and the use of patient information within the NHS”
“We recognise that this is an issue of interest to many patients”
“Your email has prompted us to formally seek additional guidance from the Data Protection Officer service”
A number of practices have confirmed they are reaching out to their local Integrated Care Board for more information and guidance. Others have already confirmed that their local ICB are not currently sharing data with Palantir’s Federated Data Platform.
We can also see that, worryingly, patients are being given contradictory advice about opting out. One GP surgery said 'at present, patients are unable to opt out of the NHS Federated Data Platform' and warned that opting out could affect their care. Another offered to register a Type 1 opt-out for the same purpose. Others just signposted the National Data Opt-Out - the very mechanism the campaign letter points out can be bypassed by NHS England directions. The fact that GP surgeries are so unclear about how the opt out works only emphasises that these mechanism are not fit for purpose.
All of this show two key things:
1) Our action is being listened to and is ramping up the pressure on GP and ICBs.
2) It is possible for GPs to take a principled stance on this in order to protect patient data.
So we need to keep up the momentum.
Tens of thousands of people have engaged with our toolkit already. If you haven’t yet written to your GP, take action here. If you have received a response from your GP but haven’t shared it with us, please send it over to hello@justtreatment.org so we can keep track of how this action is being received and acted on! ✊