NHS: Palantir CEO says health service cannot clear waiting lists "without technology"

Using artificial intelligence could be the only way to reduce the NHS' waiting lists, says a tech giant boss.

The chief executive and co-founder of Palantir - a US technology company - has urged the health service to make the most of technology in its bid to reduce the ever-expanding backlog. The firm is one of those in the running for a contract to provide AI software for the NHS.

Alex Karp told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “The NHS has a huge problem with backlog. Those problems are not solvable without technology. The benefits are, again, better care at the point of need in health care, every system in the United Kingdom works better and… your life expectancy goes up, your happiness goes up.

“The biggest risk is that the technology develops to the point where it’s dangerous to us all. That is a real risk and that’s why we need government officials to be actively looking at this, actively have a better understanding of how these things work and can be able to intervene when it looks like it’s going off the rails.”

The NHS contract, worth £500m, aims to bring NHS patients’ data together to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients. Asked by Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme how people can be sure their data will be safe, Mr Karp said: “We’ve been at this for 20 years. We’re the only company of our size and scale that doesn’t buy your data, doesn’t sell your data, doesn’t transfer it to any other company.

“That data belongs to the government of the United Kingdom.”