The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) is urging people to contact their MP to ask them to attend a parliamentary briefing on the NHS data contract held by Palantir.
The NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) is a £330m contract awarded to US tech giant Palantir which is up for renewal next year.
The briefing titled Who controls our health data? is co-hosted by DAUK and explores what happens when the contract comes up for renewal.
Cross-party briefing
DAUK will be joining Foxglove Legal, the BMA, Just Treatment, and Viscount Hanworth at the cross-party event on Monday 23 March, which will be hosted by Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley.
DAUK has consistently challenged Palantir’s involvement in the NHSsince it first raised concerns five years ago.
In 2023, NHS England awarded Palantir the FDP contract valued at around £330 million, which was described at the time by DAUK as a ‘terrible deal’.
Dr David Nicholl, DAUK committee member, said: “The contract runs out next March, which means there’s a real window of opportunity to ask if this is really the way we want the health service to run.”
Public confidence
DAUK has also warned consistently that Palantir’s involvement is eroding public confidence in how the NHS handles patient data.
A DAUK-commissioned poll found 48% of adults would opt out of sharing their health data if Palantir manages it, a direct threat to the integrity of NHS datasets that clinicians and researchers depend on.
Despite the £330m price tag, fewer than a quarter of England’s hospital trusts are actively using the platform.
Dr Nicholl said: “Almost a third of those trusts that are using the platform, have got issues in terms of GDPR. That should prompt serious scrutiny.
Write to your MP
“I’ve yet to see any evidence that this is actually good value and a good use of public money.”
Now DAUK is encouraging people to write to their MP to ask them to attend the session so they can better understand the implications for patient data and public spending.
Visit the Our Data, Our NHS campaign page to learn more about the campaign and to contact your MP.
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