Union Safety - Official Website of NW BT Union Health and Safety Coordinators Committee: NHS Patient Data Compromised By US Military As Palantir Boss Becomes Enrolled Into US Army

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NHS Contract with Palantir heavily redacted - What protection for NHS Patient's medical info?

As previously reported by Unionsafety, Wes Streeting has announced plans to launch care records – a central store of all our health data and doctors’ notes, to be developed by US spy company, Palantir.

Palantir’s troubling history of surveillance, wrongful detentions and attacks on the NHS, as well as one of its founder’s previous comments about the NHS being privatised, paying more for medicines, and open to US contractors; mean it shouldn’t be anywhere near our health data.

Further, Palantir wrongfully detained thousands of US citizens and forcibly sterilising women. The day after Israel was accused of genocide at the International Criminal Court, the company signed a deal with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to provide “support for war-related missions”. And Palantir’s predictive policing project in LA was cancelled in 2019 after accusations that it entrenched racism and didn’t reduce crime.

However, Streeting’s plans won’t work unless they can be trusted by patients and medical professionals. So, the health secretary needs to rule this rogue spy-tech company out of any more contracts with the NHS.

Indeed, whilst signing the contract for Palantir to set up the national database of ALL UK NHS patient's’s healthcare records, the final contract is still being negotiated by NHS bosses!

Worse still, the US military created a new army reserve body earlier this month (June 2025) that included four players from the biggest tech companies in the world.

The Army’s new initiative – Detachment 201, called the Executive Innovation Corps to Drive Tech Transformation, will see senior tech executives serve as advisors to the military to “help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems,” the army’s web site reads.
“By bringing private sector know-how into uniform, Det. 201 is supercharging efforts … to make the force leaner, smarter and more lethal”.

The four new Army Reserve Lt. Cols. are Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer for Palantir; Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer of OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former Chief Research Officer for OpenAI.

The person responsible for introducing the heads of Palantir to the PM and the Health and Social Care Secretary? - One Peter Mandelson, one time UK Trade Minister and now British Ambassador to the United States! Readers will recall he was one of Tony Blair's main proponents of NHS privatisation, and supporter of the War in Iraq.

The multi-million Dollar contract has been subjected to the courts because of the fact that 90% of the contract was redacted, meaning that no-one would be able to question it's legality, it's framework; and it's terms. No one including MPs!

The Good Law Project took legal action which then resulted in many pages becoming exposed to scrutiny. But this victory on the High Courts, does not go farm enough as the final contract remains as yet unknown as it is still subject to negotiation between the NHS and Palantir.

In the meantime, Palantir are busy building the data centre which will house UK NHS patients medical records, and NHS Hospital Trusts being recruited by NHS England to use the spy company's software.

Yet, it is reported by the HSJ, that many NHS Trusts are refusing to use Palantir's software claiming it does not provide what is required, and is not as good as existing systems being used now.

Worryingly, there is NO Guarantee that NHS personal data will NOT BE Stored Abroad and outside of the UK!

Why is this a danger to the privacy of NHS Patient's medical records?

First of all, the whole of Palantir's work in the UK is surrounded by secrecy, especially when it comes to their work for and with the Police and the NHS.

With Palantir controlling the database of NHS patient records, their being involved in the US Army, working with UK Police forces, and with the Government's insistence that ALL NHS patient medical records should be shared with not only the NHS, but also local authorities, NHS Hospital Trusts, GPs, and ICBs on which local counselors and private healthcare companies representatives sit; the sharing of NHS patient data becomes a serious threat to the security of NHS patients and the treatments they receive.

Furthermore, individual health records will be accessible by law enforcement agencies and the police as well as Palantir and possibly, US law enforcement agencies, and border agencies.

In the meantime, the GDPR in the UK will be unable to ensure no breaches or leaks of data, with the US data protection laws being somewhat 'soft' and data held by US organisations and companies, subject to US law.

The opportunities for misuse of such data becomes limitless!

Source: army.mil / Good Law Project / Euro News / HSJ (paywall) / The Guardian