NHS data sale can fuel tech boom - Blair and Hague

The NHS should sell anonymised medical records to harness a new biotechnology "industrial revolution", Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague have said.

The former Labour PM and ex Tory leader said the NHS' wealth of data could give the UK an advantage in new technologies shaping the future economy.

Speaking to the BBC, the former rivals said selling NHS data could help boost public services and research.

The NHS has repeatedly faced lawsuits over sharing data with tech firms.

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Sir Tony and Lord Hague have jointly published a new report calling for "a new national purpose" focussed on harnessing a revolution in biotechnology and AI.

Speaking on BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Sir Tony said: "How do you achieve higher economic growth? Well, you're going to have to build the business sectors for the future. And this is bioscience, artificial intelligence."

Sir Tony added there was a unique "opportunity in Britain with the NHS because it's a single payer system, and you have got data that is of immense value to creating your bioscience industry into and to letting it flourish".

The NHS has already experimented with training AIs using NHS data.

University College London academics have developed an AI system that has the potential to predict heart attacks, stroke and Parkinson's disease in patients. The tool evolved from a 2016 collaboration between Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and Google company DeepMind.

Data could also be harnessed to help create personalised "AI doctors" for every person in Britain, according to the report published via the Tony Blair Institute.

Ultimately AI could monitor all NHS patients via smart watches and mobile phones, alerting doctors to issues, the report said.

'Redesign government'

Previous NHS data-sharing schemes have provoked controversy.

Following a court case, the Information Commissioner in 2017 said the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust did not adequately safeguard 1.6 million people's private medical records, accessed by Google's DeepMind.

DeepMind insisted that the patient records were being used to help create a life-saving app, and the lawsuit brought by patients was eventually thrown out.

Media platform openDemocracy took the NHS to court in 2021 over a £23m contract with the firm US tech giant Palantir, known for supplying data-sifting software to government agencies.

Sir Tony and Lord Hague are campaigning for an overhaul of how the NHS handles data - giving patients more control over how their data is used.

Their joint report calls for the creation of an NHS Data Trust (NHSDT) - an arm's length body with a controlling stake owned by the NHS - to oversee and distribute anonymized NHS data for profit.

Governments will "need the expertise of the private sector" to make the most of the data, Lord Hague argued, and should be allowed to "earn a return" on their work.

People already give away personal data through "their mobile phone to many private companies, without particularly getting any benefit from it", Lord Hague said.

Creating a system where patients can "control" their personal data was "actually a better way of thinking about it than the current chaotic system, where our own data ends up all over the world without us knowing where it's gone," he argued.

An overhaul of how government works may also be necessary, Lord Hague said.

He told the BBC: "Unless you are at the forefront of this change and redesign government for these purposes, you are not going to be able to pursue it, you are just going to be stuck with low productivity."

You can listen to Political Thinking: The Blair and Hague One on BBC Sounds