‘Mistrust’ of Palantir may affect NHS research, says health minister
The health innovation minister, James Frith, has warned that public "mistrust" of Palantir could undermine NHS research, after new figures showed a surge in patients opting out of sharing their medical data. The comments come as the government weighs whether to terminate Palantir's £330m contract to run the NHS's federated data platform, amid pressure from doctors and patients' groups who cite the firm's work with the Israeli military and US immigration authorities and question its value for money.
Between mid-May and mid-July, 60,000 more people withdrew their data via the national data opt-out, which Frith described in a letter to health committee chair Layla Moran as a "modest" but monitored rise. Palantir says its technology has delivered 110,000 additional operations, a 15% cut in discharge delays and a 6.8% improvement in cancer diagnosis waiting times, though NHS England says it cannot confirm cause and effect, and the matter is under review by the statistics watchdog. Frith also signalled a softer stance on mandatory use of the platform, saying trusts are not required to adopt it, while campaigners and Moran continue to press ministers to switch providers before the contract is extended.
In short
- Health minister flags growing public mistrust of Palantir's NHS data role
- 60,000 more patients opted out of data-sharing in two months
- Government still deciding whether to end Palantir's £330m NHS contract
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Palantir’s platform may help NHS teams use information across services to improve planning, research and patient care, and the reported gains in operations, discharge delays and cancer waiting times warrant careful assessment. If mistrust leads more people to opt out, research could become less representative and less useful; the government should therefore judge the contract on independently verified results and safeguards, while explaining how data is protected.
The case against
Public confidence is essential to the NHS’s ability to use patient data, and the rise in opt-outs suggests that concerns about Palantir’s role may be affecting that trust. Given objections to the company’s other work, questions over value for money and uncertainty about whether its claimed improvements were caused by the platform, ministers could reasonably end or replace the contract and avoid requiring trusts to use it.
Explained simply
The NHS uses patient data to support research and plan services, with a national opt-out allowing people to say their confidential records should not be used for research. A separate NHS data platform is intended to help health organisations use information to coordinate care and improve services.
Palantir, a US technology company, runs that platform under a contract worth £330 million. Its work for the Israeli military and US immigration authorities has prompted concern among some patients’ groups and doctors, while the company says its software has helped improve NHS operations and waiting times.
Ministers must weigh those concerns against the platform’s role in NHS work and the evidence for its claimed benefits. The debate matters because patients’ willingness to share data can affect the information available for research, while the government is considering the company’s future contract.
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