Campaigners urge Hackney NHS Trust to to reject ‘shocking’ data sharing program

Campaigners are urging Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to opt out of using the software. Photograph: Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Homerton Hospital is facing calls to shun the use of new NHS software over concerns about data protection and the fact the same firm is being used by controversial agencies around the globe.

On Wednesday (January 21) last week, campaigners gathered outside Hackney Town Hall to urge that Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust bosses reject a new information-sharing system currently being rolled out across the country.

In 2023, NHS England signed a contract with US tech giant Palantir Technologies to build its Federated Data Platform (FDP), designed to manage and connect patient data. The NHS said this would stop information being trapped in various hospitals’ separate legacy systems.

But local pressure group Hackney Coalition Against Palantir has warned of “widely-held concerns about the inadequate safeguards Palantir offers regarding the confidentiality of our personal health records”. They added that Homerton should have no ties to the “unethical” Palantir, which has provided military and surveillance tech to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), group spokesperson Marion Macalpine said: “The NHS nationally unfortunately already has a contract with [the firm] which is really shocking, and it will coordinate all the data, our personal health data across the country.

Marion Macalpine (left) and George Binette of Hackney Coalition Against Palantir outside the Town Hall. Photograph: LDRS

“Palantir’s aim is to put together our health data, benefit data, and Home Office data. so they can pick out particular kinds of people and pass information onto law enforcement or the Government. It’s what they’ve done for Trump,” she said.

However, the UK Government has assured the public the NHS data is only processed by Palantir, not controlled or accessed by the firm.

In answer to a question submitted in the House of Commons in July 2025 about Palantir, Labour MP Karin Smyth said: “Palantir only operates under the instruction of the NHS when processing data on the platform. Palantir does not control the data in the platform, nor are they permitted to access, use, or share it for their own purposes.”

The government has stressed that the platform is designed with privacy as a “core principle” and that patient data would be under the control of NHS “at all times”.

Although the NHS is encouraging individual trusts to use the FDP, each hospital is allowed to opt out. Last year, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB) deferred adopting the system following an intelligence report that cast doubt it would improve data-sharing.

But Homerton said it “needs to engage” with the platform because other trusts are already using it, and that unlike other software, the FDP was free to NHS bodies.

A Homerton Hospital spokesperson told the LDRS: “NHS England has made a clear statement on privacy and data protection, which the Trust takes seriously. […] If NHS England determines that our performance will be judged based on use of the FDP, then the Trust will need to consider usage.

“The Trust is undertaking a comprehensive review to understand if any FDP offerings would be useful as part of the development of the Trust’s new digital strategy. [It] will review and sign off the new digital strategy later this year.”

Ms Macalpine added: “They say that Palantir won’t have access to individual data, but we know that anonymity is very difficult to preserve.”

The campaign group has also claimed that Palantir’s links to immigration enforcement in the US risked derailing Hackney Council’s aspirations to become certified as a ‘Borough of Sanctuary’ that welcomes migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

In a joint statement given to the LDRS, Cllr Carole Williams, Hackney’s Cabinet Member for Employment, Human Resources and Equalities, and Cllr Chris Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care, Voluntary Sector and Culture, said: “Through our Borough of Sanctuary initiative, we are working across council services to ensure we are transparent with residents about data which is collected locally and shared.

“Our three-year action plan will outline the practical steps we will take locally to continue supporting refugees, migrants, and people seeking asylum across key areas, including health. We will use our influence as a local authority to advocate for refugees and migrants, including the reforming of rules, so they are not deterred from seeking healthcare.”

The politicians added that the local authority was “not a decision maker” for the trust’s use of FDP, “but it should be noted that publicly available information from NHS England sets out that the supplier acts only as a data processor”.

The local demonstration against Palantir came the same week that Green Party Leader, Zack Polanski, delivered a letter to the firm’s London HQ, accusing the company of “aiding and abetting genocide in Gaza”.

Palantir was approached for comment.