Photo: Talia Woodin / MedAct
Palantir out of the NHS
LATEST RESOURCES
Medact briefing on Palantir – Major new briefing from MEDACT
No Palantir in the NHS Medact Toolkit
Hackney Coalition against Palantir – contains very useful information about campaigning locally
Mandelson Palantir and the NHS (Keep Our NHS Public)
See also
NHS England must cancel its contract with Palantir | The BMJ
Keep Our NHS Public Data group
WHAT YOU CAN DO
We are leafleting about the dangers of Palantir on our stalls and in our social media to ask people to write to their MPs, local councillor and Health Boards about this.
Click here to view a sample letter and click here to download letter in Word to adapt to write to your MP or Councillor.
FIND YOUR MP
Click here to find your MP
SEND TO OR PRESENT LETTER AT YOUR LOCAL ICB AND/OR HOSPITAL BOARD
Click here to view sample letter and click here to download letter in Word format
Who is Palantir?
Palantir is a US tech company that works with the IDF, British and American militaries, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and, since 2020, the NHS.
The company first partnered with the Government and NHS England during the Covid-19 pandemic, under the emergency coronavirus legislation providing software to help manage resources like ICU beds and PPE. This temporary “Covid-19 Data Store” raised early concerns about patient privacy and data handling. The initial contract was for £1, a great investment for Palantir to get its foot in the door of the NHS and this was extended at a cost of £23 million.
In November 2023, Palantir was awarded a £330 million contract to run the NHS’s new Federated Data Platform (FDP), aimed at linking data across hospitals and care systems in England to improve planning and reduce waiting times. The platform is being rolled out nationally, meaning Palantir has access to patient data all over the country.
In November 2023, Palantir was awarded a £330 million contract to run the NHS’s new Federated Data Platform (FDP), aimed at linking data across hospitals and care systems in England to improve planning and reduce waiting times. The platform is being rolled out nationally, meaning Palantir has access to patient data all over the country.
The NHS Palantir contract raises very serious concerns about threats to data safety. It is also concerning that such an unsavoury company as Palantir has access to patient data.
Keep Our NHS Public is joining health groups and campaigners all over the UK to protest and attempt to stop the continuation of the continued acquisition of patients’ NHS data by Palantir.
What you can do:
◼︎Write to your MP – see sample letter below
◼︎Write to your Councillors
◼︎Write to your local hospital trust board and ask them not to sign up to Palantir
◼︎Write to your local Integrated Care Board and ask them not to sign up to Palantir
◼︎Tell your friends and family
◼︎Contact our campaign to help [email protected].
◼︎Get informad about this terrible company by reading resources at the top of the page
The contract has generated widespread public concern. In particular, there are serious questions about the security and governance of sensitive patient data. Large-scale health databases are inherently vulnerable to breaches, misuse, and cyber-attack, and many people are uneasy about entrusting NHS data management to a private overseas company whose commercial priorities may not align with the public interest or the founding values of the NHS.
Surveillance
We know that Palantir are engaged in surveillance, border enforcement (including the illegal targeting of migrants), policing, human rights abuses and warfare and use the data they have collected to facilitate this involvement. In the US, ICE (US Immigration Customs and Enforcement), uses Palantir software for cross-governmental data analysis, including health data, to track people down. In 2025 the UN Special Rapporteur described Palantir as an enabler of “the unlawful use of force“ in the Palestinian Territories.
If this were not enough, recent concerns have emerged about the links between Peter Mandelson, his company Global Council and Palantir. Mandelson arranged for Keir Starmer to meet with Alex Karp, Palantir CEO in February 2025; 7 months later the UK Defence Secretary awarded Palantir a multimillion pound contract.
Practical objections
There are also practical questions about the suitability of the Palantir’s FDP platform itself. A number of clinicians, data experts and NHS bodies have warned that the platform risks displacing locally developed systems that are already effective, potentially slowing progress on other national digital initiatives and creating additional governance and operational challenges. Despite pressure for nationwide adoption, many NHS trusts have not yet implemented the platform, reflecting ongoing uncertainty and lack of confidence.
Given the scale of the contract and the sensitivity of NHS patient data, we believe it is essential that these issues are subject to full and transparent investigation.
Public trust is fundamental to the effective functioning of the NHS. Decisions about national data infrastructure must command the highest levels of confidence in terms of ethics, security, value for money and clinical effectiveness.
Call for a pause
We therefore join with other campaigner and call for a pause in the national rollout of the Federated Data Platform, and to press the government to make use of the contractual break clause available in February 2027 if concerns remain unresolved.