NHS Faces Scrutiny Over Palantir Data
UK's £330m Palantir investment questioned as data on benefits is disputed, with regulator assessing government's use of statistics
Key points
- The UK government invested £330 million in a Palantir-supported data-sharing system for the NHS
- NHS England claimed 139 trusts used the platform, with 137 reporting benefits, including 111,589 additional patient procedures
- A Freedom of Information request found nearly a third of trusts performed fewer procedures after the platform's launch
- The UK's regulator is assessing the government's use of statistics to justify the investment, amid concerns over data interpretation
- Campaign group Foxglove has written to the Health Secretary, James Murray, seeking clarification on the data used to justify the investment
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is facing scrutiny over its use of a data-sharing platform supported by Palantir, a US-based data analytics company. The government has invested £330 million in the platform, known as the Federated Data Platform (FDP), which is used by NHS trusts to share data and coordinate patient care.
However, the benefits of the platform have been disputed, with campaign group Foxglove raising concerns over the interpretation of data used to justify the investment. Foxglove has written to the Health Secretary, James Murray, seeking clarification on the data used to support claims of the platform's effectiveness.
The UK's regulator for the use of statistics in the public sector is also assessing the government's use of data to justify the investment, amid concerns that the data may not accurately reflect the platform's impact.
Sources
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