Technology and Scienceupdated 1h ago2 min read
NHS England Removes Palantir Benefits Claim for 137 Trusts After Investigation
“whose presence has already drawn 44,000 objections from patients under UK GDPR”
“after the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) said it was examining the NHS claims about the extent of the system’s use”
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NHS England deleted claim that 137 NHS trusts benefited from Palantir after Guardian findings Investigation found 29 trusts said platform not active or not used
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137 trusts, then removed
NHS England removed a webpage that had listed 137 hospital trusts as beneficiaries of Palantir’s federated data platform, after an investigation found that 29 of the included entities said the platform was not active or that they did not use their applications. The Guardian reported that NHS England replaced the deleted list with a less detailed page saying early users were “already seeing real results – reduced admin, faster patient pathways, and more time for care”.
The Office for Statistics Regulation was examining NHS England’s claims about the extent of the system’s use, after OSR had warned there was no evidence to support a claim that the technology helped deliver more than 100,000 additional operations. The dispute emerged as ministers weighed whether to extend Palantir’s £330m contract to 2029, with the contract extension tied to questions over how widely the platform was actually being used.
MP and doctor accuse
Labour MP Ben Coleman, a member of the Commons health and social care select committee, said it was “troubling” that NHS England listed the 137 trusts as benefiting from FDP, but then “apparently pulled the list when 29 said they weren’t using all or most of it”. Coleman warned that “When NHS England makes claims like this without checking them, it destroys trust – and it has happened before,” and he linked the overclaim to the statistics watchdog’s warning about the lack of evidence for the 117,000 extra operations claim.
Rhiannon Mihranian Osborne, an NHS doctor and Medact spokesperson, said, “It’s a relief to see these webpages taken down, but this has only happened after multiple investigations exposed the misleading nature of NHS England’s claims,” while Medact had sent freedom of information requests to every hospital and integrated care board in England. Unison general secretary Andrea Egan told the Guardian that Palantir is a “sinister American surveillance firm,” and she argued that extending the deal would be unacceptable for staff and patients.
Contract extension at risk
Ministers were weighing whether to extend Palantir’s £330m contract to 2029, while the Office for Statistics Regulation reviewed NHS England’s presentation of the platform and its metrics. The Guardian said NHS England had been previously warned by OSR that it had no evidence to support a claim of more than 100,000 extra operations, and the dispute also centered on whether the metrics allowed attributing an increase of 117,000 additional operations to the system.
Palantir said ending its contract would be “putting politics above patients,” while Unison’s Andrea Egan called the company a “sinister American surveillance firm” and warned that allowing Palantir to hold a vital NHS contract “surrenders sovereignty over our most sensitive data and poses security risks”. Campaigners including Doctors Association UK, Medact, Amnesty UK and Just Treatment wrote to prime minister Andy Burnham and health secretary Yvette Cooper opposing the reported plan to give Palantir a further two years, arguing the deal could be safely ended in 2027 using the “termination assistance period” to allow NHS trusts to transition away from Palantir’s technology.