Unhealthy Liaisons uncovers deep concerns about the Counter Terrorism Clinical Consultancy Service (CT CCS) – a new police-led mental health project created to facilitate information sharing between NHS and counterterrorism police officers, without patient involvement, consent or even knowledge.
Written by Medact Member Professor Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Unhealthy Liaisons reveals CT CCS as the continuation of a pilot service known as ‘Vulnerability Support Hubs’, which Medact exposed in our 2021 report Racism, mental health and pre-crime policing: the ethics of Vulnerability Support Hubs.
Launched in April 2024 after the tender of a £17 million police contract won by three NHS trusts, the new CT CCS service secretively co-opts NHS workers to collude with counterterror police.
Through this service, medical records are ‘translated’ by health professionals to police – in breach of medical good practice guidelines – and police intelligence is shared with GPs and other health services alongside requests to set up ‘tripwires’ around patient behaviour.
CT CCS raises serious ethical concerns about the nature of medical cooperation with counterterrorism security services, the potential effects of security service disclosures on healthcare relationships, and health workers acting significantly beyond their health remit.
We call for Parliament, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office, and the General Medical Council and other health institutions, to launch independent reviews into this new scheme. The UK government must engage with longstanding, well-evidenced criticism of pre-crime policing programmes such as CT CCS and Prevent, which infringe on the rights of many.
