NHS Data Row Deepens Over Palantir’s £330m Health Contract

NHS England has removed a website claim that 137 hospital trusts are benefiting from Palantir’s artificial intelligence health data system, after 29 trusts said they were not using all or most of the technology. The change has opened a fresh dispute over the accuracy of NHS claims and the future of Palantir’s £330m contract.

The system, known as the federated data platform, or FDP, was created to improve patient outcomes, make operating theatres more efficient and help hospitals discharge patients faster. NHS England had published a list of NHS bodies that were “live” with the platform and “realising benefits” from it.

That list now appears to have been taken down. The move came after 29 trusts said the FDP was either not live at their organisation or that they were not using any of its applications. Critics say the original claim made Palantir’s technology look more firmly established across the health service than it was.

Questions over NHS claims

The Office for Statistics Regulation is examining NHS claims about how widely the platform is being used. The statistics watchdog had already warned NHS England that it had no evidence to support a claim that the technology helped deliver more than 100,000 extra operations.

Ben Coleman, a Labour MP and member of the Commons health and social care select committee, said it was “troubling” that NHS England listed 137 trusts as benefiting from the FDP, then “apparently pulled the list when 29 said they weren’t using all or most of it”.

Coleman also said the statistics watchdog had warned there was no evidence for an NHS claim that the FDP delivered 117,000 extra operations. “When NHS England makes claims like this without checking them, it destroys trust – and it has happened before,” he said.

NHS England now uses less detailed wording on its website. The revised page says early users were “already seeing real results – reduced admin, faster patient pathways, and more time for care”. That statement remains at the centre of the debate because the extent of the platform’s use is still being examined.

Rhiannon Mihranian Osborne, an NHS doctor and Medact spokesperson, welcomed the removal of the webpages but said it came only after multiple investigations exposed what she called the misleading nature of NHS England’s claims. “The question remains, why did NHSE [NHS England] spend years using shaky evidence to promote the alleged ‘benefits’ of Palantir software?” she said.

Contract decision approaches

The dispute arrives as ministers consider whether to extend Palantir’s contract to 2029. Coleman wrote that the current agreement ends next March and that ministers must decide by Christmas whether to extend it. He wants the NHS to move on from Palantir and shift to new suppliers, with the health service retaining full control of its technology and patient data.

Campaigners, MPs and doctors’ unions are calling for the deal to be scrapped. Coleman said the latest overclaim “could put more hospitals off using the FDP and threaten its viability”. He has called instead for an open health data platform that NHS trusts and British technology companies can use to build tools.

Palantir was hired to help manage the vast quantities of medical data held by NHS England. The company has also pushed to expand its role into GP records, even though GP data was expressly excluded from the existing £330m contract.

In February this year, Palantir used a direct WhatsApp channel to lobby a health minister, with messages also connected to Zubir Ahmed MP. The company argued that “the logic of joining up primary and secondary [care] data is unarguable” and described its software as “ideal” for the job.

Palantir has hired the Labour peer Tom Watson as a full-time lobbyist. Watson wrote to Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, saying the company wanted to help “build Britain’s sovereign technological capability”. Unison, the health workers’ union, has urged ministers to end the contract instead.

Unison general secretary Andrea Egan said any decision to extend the agreement would be “completely unacceptable and a betrayal of staff and patients”. The union’s position adds pressure to a decision already facing scrutiny over evidence, data control and public confidence.

Trust and transparency at stake

Some opponents object to Palantir’s presence in the NHS because the company was founded by the Donald Trump-supporting billionaire Peter Thiel. Palantir also works for the Israeli military and the US administration’s ICE immigration crackdown, issues that have intensified criticism from campaigners and health workers.

The removal of the list followed research by Medact, which sent freedom of information requests to every hospital and integrated care board in England. The findings challenged the picture created by NHS England’s original list and prompted closer attention to how the FDP’s benefits were being measured.

The Guardian removed an article on 12 November 2026 after it breached an embargo. The article will be reinstated on the correct date. The surrounding dispute remains focused on a basic question: whether NHS England can show clear evidence for the benefits it has attached to Palantir’s technology.

For Coleman and other critics, the issue reaches beyond one deleted webpage. If NHS organisations cannot confirm that they are using the system, claims about its impact can weaken confidence in both the platform and the people promoting it. As ministers weigh the contract’s future, the NHS must decide whether Palantir’s system has earned another term or whether a different approach to health data is needed.

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