Sheffield Children’s Hospital bosses questioned over contract with controversial firm Palantir
Sheffield councillors are seeking a meeting with the NHS trust that runs Sheffield Children’s Hospital to discuss a controversial data processing contract.
The city council last month became the first local authority to oppose the introduction of a federated data platform (FDP) for the NHS, run by company Palantir.
The firm supplied health data to US immigration force ICE to help identify people who were then selected for forcible deportation. It also works with the Israeli military.
The health scrutiny sub-committee yesterday (July 9) discussed an update from local NHS trusts as to whether they will use the FDP.
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is going ahead with using FDP this year.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it is not using the FDP now because it is bedding in a different patient records system.
The trust runs the five city adult hospitals including the Northern General and Royal Hallamshire.
It will take advice from other NHS trusts using the system before it goes ahead.
Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health and learning disability services, said there were no relevant FDP tools so it didn’t go ahead.
Primary services trust South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board has a limited contract which does not allow data to flow to FDP. Its July 1 board minutes say GPs would have to agree before data was shared.
The minutes add: “There is a risk that clinicians, staff and the publics’ concern about the use of the Federated Data Platform (FDP) leads to reduced trust in how the ICB uses health data, this may result in reputational harm and resistance to sharing data that enable us to inform population health management.”
Councillor Sophie Crossthorn said: “I know here is a strong sense of feeling from the general public and across this committee, myself include, on the introduction of the Federated Data Platform.”
She said she was particularly concerned about children and vulnerable patients.
Coun Crossthorn said that children’s hospital health trust representatives should be invited to a future meeting.
Committee chair Coun Ruth Milsom said it could affect the council as there is shared service commissioning.