Palantir’s NHS platform expands into GP patient data sharing

Patient data from five general practitioner surgeries in England is being integrated into the NHS's Palantir-built data platform, expanding the US firm's influence beyond its original focus on hospital operations to include local practices. The National Health Service (NHS) Cheshire and Merseyside, one of England's largest Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), is managing this transition to Palantir's Federated Data Platform (FDP).

An internal NHS document described this as a "significant milestone." The FDP, predominantly employed in hospital trusts, aims to streamline NHS databases and alleviate hospital delays. In August, City AM reported that a single Palantir product reduced discharge delays by as much as 28 percent. Palantir expressed pride in its software's contribution to enhancing patient care nationwide.

Under the Cheshire and Merseyside pilot, data from five GP practices would assist the ICB in understanding and managing the health requirements of its patient base. Patient information is anonymized by a third party before entering the system; however, it remains uncertain whether patients provided consent for their data to be shared.

Currently, 35 ICBs in England are signed up to the FDP, though not all utilize it for patient data collection for population health management. This pilot also signifies a departure from assurances made by the previous Conservative government in 2023, which stated that GP data would not be part of the national platform. The FDP contract, initially awarded to Palantir in 2023 for £330 million, has faced ongoing criticism due to the company's connections with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the American military, as well as concerns over vendor lock-in and its "land-and-expand" business model.

This model involves securing small deals before expanding its presence across industries. In August, the government revised the projected whole-life cost of the FDP to £1.1 billion and reduced forecast benefits to £808 million, representing a difference of £1.7 billion from the figures provided a year prior. Health innovation minister James Frith expressed concern over the contract's potential impact on people's willingness to share data with the NHS.

Since mid-May, 60,000 people opted out of sharing their data via the national data opt-out. Palantir maintained that their role is to supply software, with its use entirely under the NHS's control and data processed strictly in accordance with the NHS's instructions.