NHS trusts dispute reported use of £330m Palantir data platform

Twenty-nine hospital trusts listed by NHS England as benefiting from Palantir’s federated data platform have said the system is not live or that they are not using its applications, according to a Guardian investigation. The findings raise questions about how the NHS describes adoption of the £330m platform and measures its benefits.

The discrepancy emerged from more than 100 freedom of information requests obtained by Medact, a medical charity campaigning to remove Palantir from the NHS, and shared with the newspaper. NHS England’s website describes 137 trusts as live on the platform. Among those listed as receiving benefits, 29 gave responses indicating that they were not using the system or its apps.

Several trusts reported that implementation had not begun. Epsom and St Helier said it was not using the platform, while Kent and Medway said other priorities had taken precedence. Mersey Care said it had not gone live, and Nottingham University Hospitals said no implementation timetable had been agreed. University Hospitals of North Midlands said the platform was not live and it had no plans to introduce it.

NHS England maintained that nearly 140 trusts had reported benefits from tools available through the platform, helping staff coordinate care and work more efficiently. It has previously explained that its figures include trusts using tools for administrative analysis and data submissions. Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, for example, said it was not using the platform operationally, but was recorded as live because infrastructure existed to support data submission.

The contract, which began in 2024, is intended to connect medical records, improve surgery scheduling and accelerate hospital discharges. NHS England has attributed 117,539 additional operations over a year to trusts using the platform. However, it acknowledged during the summer that it could not establish causation. The Office for Statistics Regulation investigated that claim and said it would now examine the reporting of trusts receiving benefits through its casework process.

Health secretary Yvette Cooper faces pressure from MPs and campaigners to terminate the agreement. Chi Onwurah, chair of the Commons science and technology committee, questioned whether claims about Palantir’s products matched trusts’ experience. She urged ministers to use a 2027 break clause and hold an open competition for a supplier owned and based in the UK. The Commons health select committee also wants the deal ended.

Marc Farr, chair of the NHS Chief Data and Analytics Officers Network, expressed concern about trusts being counted as beneficiaries while reporting that they were not using the tool. He acknowledged that some participating trusts were benefiting, but said accurate, transparent and verifiable reporting was crucial to public support.

Palantir’s UK and Europe chief executive, Louis Mosley, said cancelling the contract would mean “putting politics above patients”. The company has stepped up its response to criticism, hiring former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as a full-time senior lobbyist last month.

A Palantir spokesperson said trusts using its software had recorded 117,000 additional operations, a 14.3% reduction in discharge delays for long-stay patients and a 5.6% improvement in the number of people receiving confirmation within 28 days about whether they had cancer.