Government figures are reported to be considering triggering a break clause in Palantir’s NHS federated data platform (FDP) contract.
The US software data analytics firm signed a £330m contract in 2023 to provide the FDP, which connects data across NHS organisations.
A review of NHSE’s contract with Palantir is due in early 2027, but government officials have begun quietly exploring the technical process of removing the firm from NHS systems sooner, according to the Financial Times.
A senior government figure told the newspaper “we are confident we could do it if we wanted to”, adding that the assessment was not prompted by specific dissatisfaction with the supplier.
There has been increasing concern about the NHS supplier’s provision of surveillance software to organisations including the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the British Medical Association calling for NHS doctors to limit usage of the FDP.
In response to concerns, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care, said: “The NHS federated data platform is helping to join up patient care, increase productivity, speed up cancer diagnosis and ensure thousands of additional patients can be treated each month — with strict requirements in place about data security and confidentiality.
“Every hospital trust and integrated care board has their own instance of the IT platform, with complete control over who has access.”
In a session on the FDP at Digital Health Rewired on 24 March, Will Monaghan, chief group digital information officer at University Hospital Leicester NHS Trust and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group, said: “If the NHS decided to walk away from the current supplier, we could ‘lift and shift’ onto another platform.”
“That’s super easy to say. It would be incredibly disruptive,” he added.
Kavitha Saravanakumar, interim chief information officer at NHS North West London, agreed that a break with Palantir would “definitely be disruptive” but said that her organisation could cope.
“It would be painful but we can take some of the work we have done and move it,” she said.
Any use of the break clause would come before an independent evaluation of the FDP’s performance by Imperial College Projects, which will run for up to three years.
Cyber security expert, Dr Saif Abed, founding partner and director at The AbedGraham Group, told Digital Health News: “Irrespective of the decision with Palantir, ministers need to overhaul NHS procurement and contracting so that suppliers that do not meet critical safety and security requirements like DCB0129, DSPT and MHRA requirements can be ejected using break clauses without fear of legal retribution for NHS organisations.”
In a LinkedIn post, Dr Jessica Morley, postdoctoral research associate at the Digital Ethics Center at Yale University, said that “any health data initiative should be evaluated against four filters: is it theoretically possible, technically plausible, socially acceptable, and actually useful?”.
“The FDP failed this test. If the break clause is triggered, there’s an opportunity to do things differently. I hope the opportunity is taken seriously,” she added.
‘Ideologically motivated’
Responding to the speculation, Louis Mosley, executive vice-chair of Palantir in the UK, told Digital Health News: “Having a review clause in a contract is good and normal practice.
“However, what some ideologically motivated campaigners are suggesting should happen would harm patient care and prevent some of the biggest challenges facing the NHS from being tackled. That would be a mistake.
“The clear evidence of the past two years of delivery is that our software is helping.
“The programme has delivered 110,000 additional operations and counting; a 15% reduction in the delays to discharge that both keep patients in hospital when they are ready to leave, and reduce the availability of beds for other patients who need them; and a 6.8% increase in the number of patients who have to wait less than 28 days to find out whether they have cancer.
“In achieving those results, the programme is hitting its milestones – with a green delivery rating – something which fewer than 15% of major government programmes have achieved.
“It is forecast to deliver £150m in benefits by the end of the decade, representing a £5 return for every pound spent.”
Digital Health News contacted NHS England for comment.
