{"id":483974,"date":"2026-03-19T12:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/483974\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T12:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:15:08","slug":"sarwar-faces-questions-over-nhs-app-links-to-palantir-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/483974\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarwar faces questions over NHS app links to Palantir firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n He said it would end the SNP<\/a>\u2019s \u201cdither and delay\u201d after it was revealed the model proposed by the Scottish Government<\/a> will not be fully ready until 2030<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n But the SNP has raised alarm after Mr Sarwar said his party would \u201clearn lessons\u201d from the NHS England app.\n<\/p>\n

\n NHS England has awarded a contract worth up to \u00a3330 million to Palantir, a US surveillance giant linked to Lord Peter Mandelson.\n<\/p>\n

\n Scottish Labour has dismissed the concerns stating there have been no contract decisions taken.\n<\/p>\n

\n Concerns have been raised about Palantir regarding data protection, privacy and the use of sensitive public sector and healthcare information \u2013 claims which the firm refutes.\n<\/p>\n

\n Campaigners, including human rights groups and patient and health organisations, have urged hospitals in England to disobey an NHS directive to use the software operated by the US analytics firm.\n<\/p>\n

\n There have been warnings over Palantir\u2019s use by the US Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which reportedly used the platform for cross-governmental data analysis, including health data to track people down.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\n<\/p>\n

\n There are also suggestions it was used by the Israel<\/a> Defence Force (IDF) in its conflict against Gaza<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n SNP MSP Emma Harper said: \u201cPalantir is an organisation that should be nowhere near NHS Scotland<\/a> \u2013 with the SNP in Government this will never happen.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor Anas Sarwar and the Labour Party to even be contemplating such a move is deeply concerning and raises several questions.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIs Anas Sarwar\u2019s old friend Peter Mandelson still influencing his actions?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Ms Harper questioned whether Scottish Labour planned to \u201cprivatise Scotland\u2019s NHS through the back door\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhat is clear is that people in Westminster who are desperate to open Scotland\u2019s NHS to private American businesses see Anas Sarwar as their best route to making this happen.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n A briefing paper by non-profit health organisation Medact urged health chiefs in England not to comply with Palantir\u2019s Federated Data Platform, which are part of the NHS England plans.\n<\/p>\n

\n It warned of \u201cserious risks\u201d over data safety. However, Palantir has said its software is playing an \u201cimportant role in improving patient care\u201d, helping to deliver 100,000 additional operations and a 12% reduction in discharge delays.\n<\/p>\n

\n Despite the SNP\u2019s criticism of Scottish Labour\u2019s plans, its own strategy has not been smooth sailing.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\n<\/p>\n

\n A report prepared for the SNP-led government in Holyrood<\/a> described the English model as a \u201cuseable\u201d platform and said using it would make it easier for patients to be treated on either side of the border.\n<\/p>\n

\n But an assessment obtained by The Telegraph last year revealed ministers were warned of the \u201cpolitical optics of adopting an English solution\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n England\u2019s app launched in 2019, but a Scotland-wide version is scheduled for April 2026. However, it will be scaled back with \u201cnational priority services\u201d added in 2028 followed by a complete roll-out in 2030.\n<\/p>\n

\n In England, patients can book appointments, order prescriptions and view medical records.\n<\/p>\n

\n Jackie Baillie, deputy leader and health spokeswoman for Scottish Labour, said: \u201cThe SNP have absolutely nothing positive to say, so have resorted to spreading outright lies and disinformation among the media and the public in their dismal election campaign.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have said that we would learn lessons from the NHS app in England. We have made absolutely no commitments on the awarding of any contracts for the app in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe fact is that the SNP have had 19 years to come up with an NHS app for Scotland and have utterly failed to do so.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat is why, in their desperate attempts to distract the public, they choose to lie about their opponents.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe SNP should explain why they have neglected our NHS during nearly two decades in power, with soaring waiting lists and hardworking staff pushed to breaking point.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n In a statement, Palantir said the NHS was able to decide how its products were used and said the data can only be processed with the health services\u2019 \u201cstrict instructions\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n The firm also said it had \u201cno intention of and no means of using the data in the way that the Medact report is suggesting\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n It said that \u201cto do so would be illegal and in breach of contract\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He said it would end the SNP\u2019s \u201cdither and delay\u201d after it was revealed the model proposed by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-483974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}