The Good Law Project has said that NHS England is to republish its contract with Palantir Technologies for the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) with fewer redactions.
This follows a legal challenge by the social campaigning organisation on the grounds that the heavy redactions in the published contract – which it said amounted to about three quarters of the content – violated the principle of transparency in public procurement.
It has published a letter from NHS England saying that it will publish a revised version within two weeks of 26 February – the day it is dated – with a previously redacted section on the protection of personal data to be available for view.
The Good Law Project said it will further scrutinise the contract and will be prepared to take further legal action where needed.
NHS England published the contract with Palantir to run the FDP – a digital platform for NHS bodies to share data for analysis and planning – one working day before Christmas of last year with 417 of its 586 pages blanked out. In addition, a contract with IQVIA to provide privacy enhancing technology to be used with the FDP was also heavily redacted.
Lack of openness
Good Law Project legal manager, Ian Browne, said: “With millions of sensitive patient records on the table with private companies, we’ve been alarmed at the lack of openness around the terms of NHS England’s contracts with Palantir and IQVIA.
“Ahead of the upcoming launch of the Federated Data Platform, we’ll continue to keep the pressure on NHSE to deliver the high standards of transparency the public deserves.
“When the contracts are republished, the devil will be in the details. And, if necessary, we’ll be poised to use the law where political scrutiny and oversight has failed.”
The organisation said it is also preparing to launch a separate legal challenge against NHS England over how patient data is handled through the National Data Opt-Out programme and in line with General Data Protection Regulation.
