The UK government is set to extend Palantir's controversial £330m contract with the National Health Service (NHS) before ministers draw up plans to replace it with a British alternative. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
According to the Financial Times, ministers will extend the contract before developing a plan to replace it with a British alternative. Health secretary Yvette Cooper has faced calls from MPs and campaigners to axe the US tech firm's contract to deliver the flagship government AI system.
The system aims to connect scattered medical files, speed up hospital discharges and improve surgery scheduling among other potentially life-saving improvements. But a review has concluded that removing Palantir from NHS data systems by triggering a break clause in its contract would be too disruptive, the FT reported.
Ministers instead plan to launch a procurement process for a UK tech alternative, with Palantir to potentially be replaced in two years.
Palantir's UK and Europe chief executive, Louis Mosley, said ending its contract would be "putting politics above patients" and accused critics of "Palantir Derangement Syndrome".
The company has contracts to supply AI to the Israeli military and Donald Trump's homeland security crackdown, while its billionaire founder, Peter Thiel, has questioned democracy, said tech companies can "unilaterally change the world" and called technology an "incredible alternative to politics".
The plan is expected to be signed off soon but Green party leader Zack Polanski accused Labour of "betrayal" and said it was "allowing the corporate capture of our most beloved institution by a genocide and Donald Trump supporting tech corporation."
"The reports today that Labour is to keep Palantir in the NHS shows that the huge sums of money paid to the likes of former Labour ministers, Peter Mandelson and Tom Watson, looks to have paid off. Any evidence of patient benefit is highly contested by NHS staff and many NHS trusts have rejected the use of Palantir's platform."