The NHS selling off our data management to Palantir is an attack on us and democracy

The already crisis-ridden NHS lunged further into decline, having capitulated to a shady deal with Palantir – a nefarious organ of surveillance activities with a poor reputation. The move stoked vast outcry from conscientious civil society actors, and for good reason. This ill-advised contract binds the NHS in corporate servitude and contradicts its core values.

Moreover, the decision was reached by means that shielded negotiations from scrutiny sufficient and necessary to ensure the decision be made in the public interest. By agreeing to let Palantir supply the technological framework for managing patient data, NHS negotiators have opened the door for them to bulk harvest patient data, a power Palantir will abuse.

Of course this is by no means the first time big contracts and dodgy deals have been made in the realm of contracting for public services.

The NHS-Palantir deal is pretty much the norm

It’s pretty much the norm that class loyalty amongst elites means procurements are given to the cronies of government figures. This tendency was illustrated during the incompetence and mismanagement of the government response to the Covid-19 pandemic, awarding procurements to cronies rather than the highest quality or best value bidder.

The reason the alliance between the NHS and Palantir deserves special attention is because it is the high water mark of corporate efforts to commercialise the NHS, a point of no return from which there will be very little chance to reverse the surge towards healthcare that puts profit before human wellbeing.

The notion that sick people could become sicker – or even dead – for the sake of bottom line profit margins is utterly nauseating.

It buries the oft invoked idea that post-Brexit Britain is a panacea of sovereignty and freedom. Brexit was painted as emancipation from a harsh, alien power, but if anything it has further exposed us to being carved up and swallowed up by faceless corporate monoliths. The ease with which Palantir acquired the contract illustrates this point.

Data is 2024’s oil

Since the emergence of the internet, our world is increasingly dominated by the existence of enormous data portfolios, the desire to acquire them, and the opportunity to implement their many possible applications.

In and of itself this is not inherently dangerous. However, in a neoliberal system the balance of power favours corporations who have conquered the web by stealth, giving them a incalculable advantage over us.

I once heard someone make the observation that today, data is being traded in the same way as oil was during the gold rush. This is the harsh, cold truth of the Information Age.

Palantir originated and developed in the fields of law enforcement, policing, and as a military asset, so it’s reasonable to doubt it will operate benevolently.

Its involvement in our NHS is an attack on democracy and the welfare state of unprecedented extent.

Palantir is set to play a massive role in the future direction of the NHS, but we do not need it, and it will only be detrimental to core NHS values.

Feature image via the Canary