US Private Equity Firm Takes Control of NHS Patient Records

A US private equity firm is set to take control of NHS patient records, sparking further concerns about Britain’s public bodies handing over sensitive personal data to private firms. 

Asset management company TPG acquired healthcare technology business Optum UK earlier this year in a £300m deal that included subsidiary EMIS – the firm that supplies the IT and patient records system used by most GPs in England.

“The GP records of more than half the country sit on a system controlled by a firm whose business model is returns for investors, not care for patients, and the public found out after the fact,” a spokesperson for campaign group Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) told the Guardian. 

The spokesperson compared the move to spytech giant Palantir’s incursion into the NHS and called for the government to set out what safeguards are in place. 

An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) alleged that TPG-backed firm Evercare had driven patients in Kenya deeper into poverty and debt, with some even asked to hand over land deeds to cover unpaid medical bills.

A TPG spokesperson told the Guardian the company strongly disagreed “with the facts and characterisation of the allegations in the ICIJ’s report” and said its investments in Evercare had led to “substantial gains in quality, accessibility, and accreditations, as well as patient rights and protections.”

“Any suggestion that TPG or Evercare prioritises profits over patients is incorrect and ignores the extensive clinical governance and patient’s rights policies we’ve instituted,” they added.

 Former Oxfam health policy lead Anna Marriott told the Guardian: “It is deeply concerning that a private equity firm with a highly controversial track record in healthcare internationally can take control of sensitive NHS patient data with so little public scrutiny.

“This deal should ring major alarm bells. Private equity’s penetration of our health service is fast outrunning the regulatory guardrails needed to protect patients, workers and the public interest.”

EMIS said “patient privacy” and “rigorous controls” were “core” to its practices and that the acquisition will have no impact on patient privacy. TPG said: “Assertions that TPG could in any way access, control, maintain, or utilise NHS patient records are entirely false.”