Researchers at NHS England are being denied access to datasets on the Palantir platform which supports the COVID-19 data store, with no reason given,

NHS England staff voice concerns about access controls on US spy-tech firm Palantir's COVID-19 data store

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2021-07-05 14:30:07

Researchers at NHS England are being denied access to datasets on the Palantir platform which supports the COVID-19 data store, with no reason given, despite requests for greater transparency on the system.

According to documents seen by The Register, some staff at the non-departmental body of the Department for Health and Social Care (DHCS) are concerned about the lack of clarity when requests are made for data sets on the system built on Palantir's Foundry platform.

Some requests for data are ignored, with no information given in the fields for “decision maker” or “decision reason,” according to screengrabs seen by El Reg.

Even if NHS England staff get access to the data they request, names of decision-makers might be given as “unknown group or user”, while the reason for a decision might be “approved by a triage panel”. The lack of transparency is leaving staff frustrated that they cannot get more information on the data sets they request.

The documents, and views of NHS England staff, raise the possibility that NHS England management is restricting access to data without giving proper justification. Others have speculated that the American software firm itself, with its consultants still working on the system, is restricting access to the data.