TL;DR
Campaigners, doctors’ leaders and MPs want the government to stop Palantir’s £330m contract to run the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) from rolling on. A break clause would halt renewal beyond March 2027, a ministerial decision is due by December, and protests are planned on Thursday 1 October outside about 30 hospitals and Palantir’s London office.
The case against
The 2023 contract has Palantir supplying the data management platform that helps hospitals work together and manage appointments. According to the NHS, patient records remain in Britain, belong to the health service rather than the supplier, and are never put to commercial use or AI training.
Critics’ objection is less about the platform than about Palantir’s other customers, such as US immigration enforcement and Israel’s armed forces. “Those ethical concerns are basically poisoning everything,” said Duncan McCann, who heads technology and data at the Good Law Project. The British Medical Association has advised its members against using the system, and a YouGov poll in July found 65% of Britons in favour of ending the deal.
There is a sovereignty argument too. Martin Wrigley, a Lib Dem MP who sits on a committee that has warned about UK reliance on US tech suppliers, wants a British alternative and raised the prospect of a US president switching the service off in a political dispute.
The case for
Supporters point to take-up and results. The FDP is now in use at roughly two in three NHS hospitals, and Palantir credits the platform with 110,000 extra operations. The Department of Health told AFP the benefits were “clear”, with thousands more patients helped each month.
What the decision sits within
This is not an isolated row. Last month the health innovation minister told MPs he believed distrust of Palantir lay behind a surge in NHS data opt-outs. AFP also notes Palantir’s £240m defence contract from 2025, the UK making up 10% of the company’s 2025 revenue, and London mayor Sadiq Khan blocking a £50m Metropolitan Police deal in May, which Palantir is now contesting in court.
There is a working alternative close to home. NHS Greater Manchester has developed an in-house platform over ten years that covers some of the same ground. Matt Hennessey, who leads its data work, believes other regions could follow suit.
Looking forward
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has not commented publicly. The December decision will be an early test of how far this government’s “sovereign capability” language extends from AI infrastructure to the data platforms underneath public services.