BMA calls for NHS to abandon Palantir platform over US ICE links

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By Daniel Pye

Doctors can “no longer provide the tacit endorsement” of using Palantir to manage patient data, the British Medical Association has said.

Writing in a BMJ rapid response piece, the British Medical Association UK council chair Dr Tom Dolphin said that NHS should move away from Palantir’s platform entirely because of its use by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The controversial agency, which has sparked protests in the US after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, is using similar technology for its operations to what the NHS has commissioned from Palantir – the Federated Data Platform (FDP).

This platform connects health information across the NHS, helping staff work more efficiently and deliver better patient care.

Dr Dolphin cited a report from the Good Law Project that ICE is using formerly separate datasets, including medical records, through Palantir’s Immigration OS platform.

Given this, he wrote in January “it is the view of the BMA that doctors working in the NHS can no longer provide the tacit endorsement that using a product implies and must immediately take steps to explore refusing any non-direct care usage of Palantir’s [FDP], with a view to moving away from the platform entirely in time, when a suitable alternative can be put in place.”