# British people don’t trust Palantir – it’s not too late to reverse the NHS’s dependence on it | Ben Coleman

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/british-people-dont-trust-palantir-its-not-too-late-to-reverse-the-nhss-dependence-on-it-ben-coleman/
- Published: 2026-11-09T06:00:02+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-09T07:40:55+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/nov/09/british-people-palantir-nhs-health-data-us-tech-firm
- Topics: Americas, Politics, UK, World

## Key points

- Palantir’s £330m NHS data contract ends next March.
- Ministers must decide by Christmas whether to extend it.
- Open standards could help the NHS switch suppliers.

## Summary

Ben Coleman argues that the NHS should not renew Palantir’s £330m contract to run its Federated Data Platform, which ends next March. Ministers must decide by Christmas, and he says they should use the transition to regain control of NHS technology and patient data while protecting patient care.

The platform helps NHS teams link hospital data to manage waiting lists, plan operations and discharge patients, but questions remain about whether its applications can move to another supplier. Coleman proposes shared open standards that would let regions choose different providers and switch without starting again. He cites existing alternatives in Greater Manchester and London, reports that some trusts do not use the platform, and says evidence of benefits is disputed: Palantir claims discharge delays fell by 14%, while the Health Foundation found no noticeable change.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.