Medact

Parliamentary discourse is growing around the potential for the break clause in the Federated Data Platform (FDP) contract with Palantir to be triggered in February 2027 .With NHS leaders from around the country gathered in one place, at the ConFed Expo in June, we put on a space for discussion around the implications of this significant decision and the importance of patient and public trust in health data systems. We were joined by a panel of data and health equity experts to speak and there will be the possibility for questions and discussion.Speakers:Matt Hennessey – Greater Manchester ICB Chief Data and Analytics OfficerEmma Runswick – British Medical Association Deputy Chair of CouncilMarc Farr – Chair, NHS Chief Analytical Officer’s Network Advisory Board Member, APHA National Data Advisory GroupThis event was a precursor to our latest briefing aimed at Parliament. Here are links to all of our current briefings on the FDP:Beyond Palantir’s FDP: Building NHS Data Systems Fit for the Future (July 2026)FDP Roll-out Report: NHS England Figures Must Be Interrogated (July 2026)Concerns Regarding Palantir Technologies and NHS Data Systems (March 2026)Want to contribute to the discussion? Get in touch on [email protected]!

Streamed live from the COP27 climate talks in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt – Medact members brought together a panel of activists from the global movement for health and climate justice to discuss the need for a transformative Green New Deal that centres the health of people and planet!  Speakers include:  Asad Rehman – War on Want, UK  Omar Elmawi – Stop EACOP, Kenya  Erika Arteaga Cruz – People’s Health Movement, Extractive Industries Circle, Ecuador  Jon Bonifacio – Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Philippines   Chaired by Dr Abi Deivanayagam, member of Medact and Race & Health.

What impact has two decades’ worth of policing and counterterrorism had on the state of mind of Muslims in Britain? The Suspect draws on the author’s experiences to take the reader on a journey through British counterterrorism practices and the policing of Muslims. Join Rizwaan Sabir and Tarek Younis for discussion on the traumatising effects of Sabir’s surveillance, arrest and detention for suspected terrorism. Writing publicly for the first time about the impacts of these experiences, Sabir argues that these harmful outcomes are not the result of errors in government planning, but the consequences of using a counterinsurgency warfare approach to fight terrorism and police Muslims. To resist the injustice of these policies and practices, we need to centre our lived experiences and build networks of solidarity and support. Buy The Suspect now from Pluto Press: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745338484/the-suspect/ Sign our pledge to challenge Prevent and uphold the duty of care: https://www.medact.org/2022/actions/health-workers-against-prevent/   Read our report – 'False Positives: the Prevent counter-extremism policy in healthcare': https://www.medact.org/2020/resources/reports/false-positives-the-prevent-counter-extremism-policy-in-healthcare/ Read our report – 'Racism, mental health and pre-crime policing: the ethics of Vulnerability Support Hubs': https://www.medact.org/2021/resources/reports/racism-mental-health-and-pre-crime-policing-the-ethics-of-vulnerability-support-hubs/ Read our report – 'The Public Health Case Against the Policing Bill': https://www.medact.org/2021/resources/briefings/public-health-case-against-policing-bill/ Join the Medact Securitisation of Health Group: https://www.medact.org/membership/groups/securitisation-of-health/ Join Medact as a member: https://www.medact.org/membership/

Listen back to the event celebrating the publication of the sixth edition of Global Health Watch. Hear from speakers who contributed to this essential volume, which integrates rigorous analysis with stories of struggle and hope for radical transformation, at this once-in-a-generation moment of focus on the issue of health justice. Speakers include: Dr Chiara Bodini, co-editor of GHW Members of the Medact Research Network: Roman Gnaegi, Catia Confortini and Michael Orgel Dr Annabel Sowemimo, sexual and reproductive health doctor and founder of Decolonising Contraception Dr Lauren Paremoer, senior lecturer in the Political Studies Department at the University of Cape Town and member of PHM South Africa Rhiannon Osborne, medical student, organiser with Health for a Green New Deal and Stop Cambo, and member of People’s Health Movement UK. Global Health Watch (GHW), now in its sixth edition, is the definitive alternative voice on health. Published since 2003, with contributions from activists and academics from around the world, GHW6 integrates rigorous analysis of the social, economic, political and environmental determinants of health with stories of struggle and hope for radical transformation. The book has been co-produced by People’s Health Movement, Medact, Third World Network, Health Poverty Action, Medico International, ALAMES, Viva Salud and Sama. This event was held in collaboration with Health Poverty Action, People’s Health Movement UK and People’s Health Movement Scotland—please check out their work!

The online launch of three brand new pamphlets developed by members of the Economic Justice & Health group. These booklets explore the key campaigning areas of secure housing, tax justice and liveable incomes, and provide an informative resource for those looking to fight against economic and health injustice. Hear from a great line-up of speakers on the issues covered by the booklets: Guppi Bola, strategist, organiser and co-founder of Decolonising Economics and author of “Reimagining Public Health” Abigail Acheampong, cleaner at Royal London Hospital. UNITE representative and key leader in the campaign that ended outsourcing in England’s biggest NHS trust Representatives from Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth and London Coalition Against Poverty A decade of austerity policies and vast cuts to public finances have contributed to worsening health for people and communities that are marginalised by our current economic systems.  As members of the health community, our work is as much about caring for those in immediate need as it is about advocating for and building new societal systems in which all are able to live well and thrive. Download the digital booklets in advance of the event here: https://www.medact.org/2022/resources/briefings/a-peoples-economy-booklets/

It is possible to create a society in which our collective safety and wellbeing are prioritised. Developing trusting, healthy relationships with all of our patients is essential to this work. However, Prevent – with the government’s stated aim of identifying “vulnerability to radicalisation” – compromises all of this, and is a source of harm and increased marginalisation. Why is the NHS the only healthcare system in the world with a legal obligation to engage with such a strategy? What aren’t you being told about Prevent in safeguarding training? Learn more in our series of online Alternative Trainings on Prevent. This training will seek to shed light on some unanswered questions about Prevent. We will hear from: Latifa Akay—writer, producer and Head of Collective Care at Act Build Change. Prior to this, Latifa worked as Director of Education at Maslaha. She is a trustee at the Inclusive Mosque Initiative, Ameen—a GP in east London, and a member of Medact’s Securitisation of Health group, Mashal Iftikhar—a member of Medact’s Securitisation of Health Group and an NHS doctor training in psychiatry. She is passionate about health equity in mental illness and the intersection of criminal justice with mental health services. This event recording is particularly aimed at people who work or are training in, study, or who have worked in health.

Read the briefing: link.medact.org/PolicingBill Watch this event on YouTube: youtu.be/hqDFFtF7nMA The government has misleadingly branded the racist and dangerous PCSC (Policing) Bill a “public health approach” to combating serious violence. But health workers in the Medact Research Network have debunked these claims in a new briefing. Written to support the huge groundswell of opposition to this bill in the #KillTheBill movement, the briefing explains why the measures in the Bill – greater police powers, repression of protest, harsher prison sentences, erosion of confidentiality and increased criminalisation of Gypsy and Traveller communities – will actually harm public health and entrench discrimination. We aim to articulate and amplify radical public health voices against the Policing Bill’s approach and explore potential alternatives. In this event recording, hear from health workers who are members of our Research Network and involved in creation of the briefing, as well as four fantastic speakers who discuss public health in the context of crime, policing and prison: Lola Olufemi – Lola is a black feminist writer and researcher, author of Feminism Interrupted: Disrupting Power and Experiments in Imagining Otherwise. Alongside writing, she is a member of ‘bare minimum‘, an interdisciplinary anti-work arts collective. Lola also facilitates reading groups/workshops, occasionally curates, and is volunteer co-ordinator at the Feminist Library in South London. Kelsey M – Kelsey is a feminist, abolitionist organiser based in London, resisting state violence and working to explore and build transformative justice and community-led responses to violence. As a facilitator with grassroots collectives she delivers workshops exploring community accountability, bystander intervention, power, and tools for campaigning and movement building. Chelsea McDonagh – Chelsea is a researcher, Irish Traveller activist and writer. She speaks on a wide range of issues affecting Gypsy and Traveller people including education, health, policy and politics. Chelsea is one of the co-founders of the Rom Belong programme, a KCL Widening Participation programme for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils and is passionate about improving opportunities for young people. Kavian Kulasabanathan – Kavian is a paediatric A&E doctor and researcher at the University of Oxford. His interests span socio-political determinants of health, particularly pertaining to race and class, alongside community-centered models of care. Kavian organises with PHM-UK and Race & Health collective. Presenters cover topics such as the future implications of the PCSC bill, different visions of public health, new approaches to care, and approaches to ‘serious violence’ and socio-economic issues that don’t rely on punitive or carceral responses. This is followed by a Q&A from the live audience.

On the 25th May 2021 we held our second Alternative Training on Prevent in Healthcare to explore what you aren't being told about Prevent in safeguarding training.  The training shed light on some unanswered questions about Prevent and we heard from: Members of Medact’s Securitisation of Health Group (SHG) Susan Wright ─ a crime and human rights barrister acting for defendants, NGOs and other organisations on a range of public law matters Reem Abu-Hayyeh ─ Campaigns and Policy Lead: Peace and Security at Medact Dr Lyn Jenkins ─ a retired GP/ ophthalmologist, bereavement support volunteer, and heading up In My Own Bed Please, a lobby group advocating for improved palliative care at home in emergencies

On the 19th May 2021, we held an event to launch our latest report Racism, mental health and pre-crime policing: the ethics of Vulnerability Support Hubs. The report is based on documents obtained through a series of long-running Freedom of Information requests and exposes how a counterterrorism police-led project blurs the boundaries between security and care in disturbing and dangerous ways.   At the report launch we were joined by guest speakers: Dr Hilary Aked – Medact’s Research and Policy Manager Dr Tarek Younis – Cultural and critical clinical psychologist and Lecturer in Psychology at Middlesex University Dr Charlotte Heath Kelly – Reader in Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick Vicki Nash ─ Head of Policy, Campaigns and Public Affairs at Mind You can read the full report here: http://link.medact.org/racismmentalhealth

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (PCSC) is a dangerous piece of legislation that undermines our fundamental rights, threatens all our safety, and implicates health workers in the expansion of violent police powers. Medact and Docs Not Cops have joined the Kill The Bill Coalition to stand in solidarity with everyone targeted by the Bill and fight back against these harmful policies. On Monday 26th April 2021 we held an urgent briefing to discuss the public health impacts of the PCSC Bill, what the Kill The Bill Coalition is building towards and what health workers can do to get involved. Many thanks to our panel of guest speakers: Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper, a research associate in sociology at University of Greenwich. He organised with The Monitoring Group and Black Lives Matter UK. He is author of Black Resistance to British Policing (Manchester University Press). Shanice, a feminist activist involved in direct action, community organising and the movement to #KillTheBill Chelsea McDonagh, an Irish Traveller with interests in education, policy and research Dr Hilary Aked, Medact Research Manager, who holds a PhD in political sociology and specialises in investigative research on topics including the pro-Israel lobby and the Prevent counter-extremism policy in healthcare.