MP Jeremy Corbyn speaking outside the Whit last Thursday

PROTESTERS gathered outside the Whittington Hospital to object to the adoption of controversial software company Palantir’s technology across the NHS.

The demonstration was one of dozens taking place across the UK as part of Amnesty International’s International Day of Action against the American firm last Thursday.

Palantir struck a £330million deal with the government in 2023 to roll out its data processing platform across our health system.

But campaigners say the deal amounts to selling off sensitive patient data to an untrustworthy foreign actor, known for providing services to controversial bodies like ICE and the Israel Defence Forces. Its founder Peter Thiel previously compared the British public’s affection for the NHS with “Stockholm Syndrome”.

Speakers at the demonstration included Islington Trade Unions Council president Andy Bain and Shirley Franklin from Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition, part of the protest’s organising team, which also included Keep Our NHS Public’s Islington and Haringey chapters.
Ms Franklin told the Tribune: “You can’t trust Palantir with our data. Somebody’s making a lot of money out of this deal, and it’s not in our interest.

“We want the NHS to be in charge of our data. Palantir’s linking up with the police and social services, and all sorts of things – what’s going to happen with the data? It’s very worrying.”

MP for Islington North Jeremy Corbyn said: “It’s all about public control. Are we, the public, going to control our NHS or are we going to hand it over to somebody else? I know the answer I want – which is us.”

Lord Tom Watson

Palantir has brought in Lord Tom Watson to be its vice-president in the UK, the peer who was Mr Corbyn’s deputy during his time as leader of the Labour Party.

Lord Watson said last week that Palantir tech would speed up waiting lists and improve the NHS.

Mr Corbyn said this was “complete and utter nonsense”, adding: “He knows full well that the publicly-run system that’s been adopted by the Manchester-run group of hospitals is more efficient and a lot cheaper than Palantir and above all publicly owned and publicly run.

“What he’s doing is acting for the commercial interests of Peter Thiel and those that run Palantir.”

Ms Franklin said: “He’s [Lord Watson] quite honest about being brought in to deal with the left and deal with us protesters, so this is his job.

“He must have the most enormous wage packet. He’s defending the indefensible.

“So he can kindly f*** off.”

The Whittington does not use Palantir’s Federated Data Platform and says it has no plans to adopt it, but it has been taken up by around 140 trusts around the country.

The British Medical Journal reported in July that around one third of trusts officially signed up to the platform had not actually signed into its apps in the past year.

The Town Hall’s chair of the health and adult social care scrutiny committee, Councillor Joseph Croft, also read a speech, saying: “We have been clear, in our words and our actions, that we do not want anything to do with Palantir…the role that they have played in making the world a worse place cannot be overstated. Islington Labour Group says yes to the highest ethical standards, yes to an NHS that follows the values it was founded on, no to NHS privatisation, no to Palantir.”

Lord Watson said in his message in response to the demonstration: “While they protest, someone, somewhere will get an operation scheduled earlier, a cancer diagnosis quicker, a loved one home from hospital sooner – thanks to the software that those protesters would switch off.”