US data giant Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) is in front to win a high-value contract to overhaul the National Health Service’s outdated patient data system.
Worth nearly half a billion pounds, the UK government is poised to announce the final terms of the five-year contract by the end of October, according to a Bloomberg report.
Palantir’s relationship with the NHS was cemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the Denver-based company helped oversee the UK’s vaccine distribution for a nominal £1 fee.
Palantir boss Peter Thiel has made no secret of his disdain for Britain’s public health service.
In January, he described Britons’ affection for the NHS as a form of “Stockholm Syndrome”, referring to the psychological condition of a hostage becoming endeared to their captor.
Speaking before the Oxford Union, Trump donor Thiel recommended to “rip the whole thing from the ground and start over”, referring to the NHS.
Thiel commented that the NHS needed “market mechanisms” to reduce patient times, alluding to partial service privatisation.
In September 2022, Bloomberg reported on Palantir’s “secret plan” to ingrain itself into the NHS by buying up smaller rivals with existing relationships with the health service.
Palantir the corporation is named after palantír the spherical, magical object feature in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings fantasy epic.
It is a somewhat foreboding name for a company in charge of mass public data, given the palantíri ability to peer into the minds and visions of others.