NHS England posts £35m contract for privacy enhancing technologies
Also announces £21m fund for AI diagnostics tools
NHS England is searching for a provider of privacy enhancing technologies to protect patient data on its planned federated data platform and elsewhere across the health service. NHSE also announced £21 million in funding for AI applications across the NHS.
NHS-PET - Privacy enhancing technology
A three-year contract worth up to £35 million for a provider of privacy enhanced technologies to "keep patient data safe" was advertised on the government's Contracts Finder site this week.
"NHS-PET will be a distinct service that is a required part of the overall NHS data protection ecosystem and [federated data platform] FDP capability for sharing data safely and securely," it says.
Health data is extremely sensitive and covered by multiple regulations. For the public to trust its use for vital medical research, they must be assured it is not being sold on, held in insecure environments, or subject to de-anonymisation.
Privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) include solutions for anonymisation, collaborative analysis without disclosing the source data, encryption, and securing or air-gapping environments.
The successful bidder's technology will first be applied to the £480 million federated data platform (FDP), for which bids are currently being considered.
The original FDP tender did not include privacy enhancing technologies, adding to speculation that it is being lined up for controversial US data mining firm Palantir.
In the notice, NHSE, the government body that oversees the budget and manages commissioning for the NHS in England, says NHS-PET will be a standalone service that will also be applied to the "wider NHS" in conjunction with "various data platforms".
See also 'Stitch-up': NHS England awards Palantir £25m contract in closed process
Solutions may be delivered as SaaS, but they should adhere to open standards for ease of integration, the notice says.
£21 million AI Diagnostic Fund
Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay announced on Friday that NHS trusts will be able to bid for funding from a £21 million pot set aside for the deployment of AI imaging and decision support tools.
Projects eligible for the ring-fenced AI Diagnostic Fund include tools to analyse chest Xrays, and to diagnose cancer, strokes and heart disease. But the press release says it will be open for bids for any AI diagnostic tool that trusts want to deploy, so long as it represents value for money.
In a statement, Barclay said he was "focused on adopting the latest cutting-edge technology across our health and care system."
Dr Katharine Halliday, president of the Royal College of Radiologists welcomed the move.
"At a time when diagnostic services are under strain, it is critical that we embrace innovation that could boost capacity - and so we welcome the Government's announcement of a £21 million fund to purchase and deploy AI diagnostic tools," she said in a statement.