NHS England Gave Palantir Staff Access to Identifiable Patient Data

NHS England provided Palantir staff with unlimited access to identifiable patient data before the information was anonymized. The access was granted in connection with the company's £330 million contract to develop an AI platform that integrates multiple NHS health datasets.

Internal NHS documents acknowledged the considerable public interest and concern about how much access Palantir staff actually have to the data. Patients were not consulted about the change in access.

The contract focuses on building a platform designed to combine various NHS health datasets into a unified system. Palantir is responsible for processing the data under the terms of the agreement. The company stated that it functions as a data processor. It added that using the data for anything beyond its mandated purpose would be technically impossible.

The internal documents recognized the level of public interest surrounding the data access arrangements. No public consultation with patients took place prior to implementing the access changes. The Guardian first reported the details of the access arrangements and the internal NHS assessment of public concern.