In the past five years, electronic records have replaced paper in most UK health environments. Twenty years of trying, buying, and connecting these systems has created more digitised data on wellness and illness than any group of humans could meaningfully explore in a lifetime.
Data scientists can now unleash algorithms into those seas of data to seek insights. This is a positive development for the transformation of healthcare in the UK. But it is also causing some health leaders to sleepwalk uncritically deeper into a dangerous tech monoculture.
In 2023, there was a flutter of horror at the idea that the British health service was spying on citizens’ health data. The service had hired Palantir – the tech company widely viewed as the core of American electronic espionage – to facilitate its Federated Data Platform, where disparate regional and national networks would share data….
