The UK government has sought advice on potentially invoking a break clause in Palantir's seven-year, £330 million contract to develop the NHS Federated Data Platform, awarded in 2023. This consideration follows disclosures that Palantir engineers working on the platform's rollout have been provided with NHS email accounts, giving them access to a directory containing contact details for up to 1.5 million NHS staff. Additionally, Palantir staff have been granted access to NHS SharePoint filesharing systems and internal Microsoft Teams groups.
Palantir has defended its involvement, with its UK boss Louis Mosley urging the government not to yield to ideologically motivated campaigners calling for the company's ejection from NHS data systems. He highlighted that Palantir's software is forecast to deliver £150 million in benefits by the end of the decade, representing a £5 return for every pound spent. Supporting these claims, a leaked memo from NHS England's chief data officer Ming Tang stated that Palantir's data platform is delivering outstanding results with faster diagnosis, referrals, and treatments. Further, a Whitehall source said Palantir will enable 100,000 additional operations and 250,000 accelerated discharges in the next 12 months, with savings of £780 million over seven years. Palantir itself asserts that its software has helped deliver 110,000 additional operations, a 15.3% reduction in discharge delays, and a 6.8% increase in cancer diagnoses within 28 days of referral.
Government officials argue it is feasible to transfer the running of the Federated Data Platform from Palantir to another provider. The Department of Health and Social Care states that the platform helps join up patient care, increase productivity, speed up cancer diagnosis, and ensure thousands of additional patients can be treated monthly, with strict data security requirements. Every hospital trust and integrated care board has its own instance of the Federated Data Platform, with complete control over who has access.
Having a review clause in a contract is good and normal practice. However, what some ideologically motivated campaigners are suggesting should happen would harm patient care and prevent some of the biggest challenges facing the NHS from being tackled. That would be a mistake. The clear evidence of the past two years of delivery is that our software is helping. It is forecast to deliver £150m in benefits by the end of the decade, representing a £5 return for every pound spent.
Ethical and political opposition to Palantir's involvement has been vocal, with the British Medical Association long opposing it due to concerns about patient data use. Some NHS staff, patients, and human rights campaigners question the ethics of allowing Palantir to become embedded in the UK public sector due to its association with AI-powered surveillance and war technology. Health Secretary Wes Streeting is under pressure from the Green Party leader and left-wing doctors' associations to cut ties with Palantir over its links to the US military and ICE. According to a resident doctor, NHS staff have not consented to sharing personal contact details with Palantir staff who might later work on systems for drone strikes. A health policy expert noted that while granting NHS email addresses to Palantir staff may not breach rules, the strong reaction from NHS staff reflects deep ethical concerns that Palantir's values conflict with the NHS's founding principles.
Health officials have expressed fears that Palantir's reputation will affect delivery of the Federated Data Platform contract. The Department of Health and Social Care emphasizes that each hospital trust and integrated care board maintains control over access to its platform instance, but concerns persist about how Palantir's controversial image might impact staff cooperation and public trust.
Contradictions exist regarding Palantir's impact on NHS operations and savings, with different sources providing conflicting figures on the financial and operational benefits. For instance, Palantir's forecast of £150 million in benefits contrasts with the Whitehall source's claim of £780 million in savings over seven years, and the company's reported 110,000 additional operations differs from the source's projection of 100,000 in the next year.
Thanks to Palantir, there will be 100,000 additional operations and 250,000 accelerated discharges in the next 12 months and savings of £780million over seven years. Rather than subject under-pressure hospitals to yet another protracted and distracting government U-turn, Wes should confirm now whether he is finally going to cancel this contract. Polanski calling the shots on Government policy. This is a litmus test of whether that's the world we're in - a crank hypnotherapist telling him how to run our health system.
Several unknowns persist, including the exact number of Palantir staff with access to NHS email accounts and internal systems, which has not been publicly disclosed. The specific ethical guidelines or rules governing private contractors' access to NHS staff data are also unclear. How feasible it is to transfer the Federated Data Platform to another provider if the contract is canceled remains an open issue, as government officials have argued it is possible but details on the process and timeline are lacking.
Potential consequences of contract cancellation could include disruptions to the platform's rollout, delays in achieving projected benefits, and financial penalties or renegotiation costs. The NHS might face challenges in finding an alternative provider capable of managing the complex data integration required, potentially setting back efforts to modernize healthcare data systems.
Reactions from stakeholders highlight the polarized views on Palantir's role, with Palantir defending its practices through a spokesperson who stated that using government systems is normal and more secure than suppliers using their own systems, and that the NHS retains full control over software use and data processing. Pressure on Health Secretary Wes Streeting continues to mount, with left-wing groups and ethical campaigners urging him to sever ties, while proponents argue for maintaining the contract to avoid setbacks in NHS modernization and the loss of anticipated operational improvements.