‘No moral government should tolerate Palantir's involvement in our NHS’

Patients and health workers unite at demos across England demanding the government cut ties with the spy tech firm

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In London, protesters converged on Palantir’s headquarters to hand in a giant “contract terminated” poster as part of a global week of action against the company’s involvement in public services.

The protests in Manchester, Exeter, Liverpool, Bristol, Norwich, Newcastle, Birmingham and Brighton were organised by campaign groups, including Medact, Global Justice Now, Keep Our NHS Public, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and We Own It.

Campaigners condemned Palantir’s role in managing the country’s health data, citing its track record of surveillance, human rights abuses and complicity in the genocide in Gaza.

Speaking at the London rally, Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, a paediatric neurologist in the NHS who has volunteered in Gaza, said: “Everything that I stand for as a doctor, every principle of the NHS committed to providing equitable healthcare for all, is directly contradicted by the core values and repeated actions of Palantir.

“When we strive to save every possible life, they champion their ability to kill and celebrate their role in the repeated war crimes committed by Israel — including unprecedented deliberate attacks on the doctors, nurses, and paramedics I worked with.

“No moral government should tolerate their involvement in our NHS or indeed any of our public services.”

Just Treatment’s Muge Dindjer said: “Like thousands of patients across the country, I know instinctively that that ethos of care is fundamentally undermined by the central role that Palantir, with its callous attitude to human life and dignity, is playing in our health service.

“What’s worse is there is no way for patients to opt out of Palantir’s platform, and I feel my data is being handed over without my consent.

“[Prime Minister] Andy Burnham simply has to end their contract or he risks corroding not only patients’ trust, but the very soul of our NHS.”

Campaigners also pointed to the company’s relentless lobbying, chaired by US venture capitalist and right-wing activist Peter Thiel and supported by disgraced politician Peter Mandelson, as a key factor behind its government contracts, alongside concerns over the technology’s high cost and low quality.

Dr Rhiannon Osborne of Medact said: “I took a Hippocratic oath to care for my patients.

“I cannot stay true to that oath and tolerate Palantir continuing to profit from, and grow its malign business model through an NHS contract.

“Every pound we give them helps to legitimise and sustain human rights abuses and erosion of democratic rule of law across the world. It’s time Andy Burnham picked a side.

“And having spoken to countless NHS data analysts and experts… Palantir’s FDP [Federated Data Platform] is crap — NHS staff and patients won’t miss them or their overhyped spin operation.”

A petition which included hundreds of thousands of names was also handed to No 10 today, with other action this week including health worker rallies at the Labour Party Conference and the Department of Health, and a bombed-out ambulance stunt at Palantir’s HQ.

Palantir had faced a September 30 deadline to share its exit plans under its current NHS contract.

The government is expected to decide whether to extend the deal or exercise a break clause that campaigners say would allow investment in British-made alternatives such as the system developed independently by Manchester NHS.

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