More than 44,000 people object to Palantir processing NHS data

A contract under pressure

The seven-year deal is due to take effect in February 2027. Hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions calling for it to be cancelled, and two House of Commons committees have urged Labour to use the contract’s early-termination clause.

Criticism also reflects Palantir’s work for the Israeli military and its involvement in immigration raids under Donald Trump. David Murray, a former IBM systems engineer who objected to his data being processed, said he supports the idea of a good NHS database but wants confidence that information will be used for its intended purpose. He cited Palantir’s work with the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International parked a van styled as a bullet-ridden Palestinian ambulance outside Palantir’s London headquarters. The protest asked why a company associated with the destruction of Gaza’s health system should have a role in Britain’s.

Amnesty International have questioned the use of Palantir’s technology in Gaza. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

Source: theguardian.com

What the platform is meant to deliver

Palantir says the FDP brings together fragmented NHS information, from surgery schedules to discharge planning, to help reduce waiting lists and free up hospital beds. The company’s executive vice president for the UK and Europe, Louis Mosley, has accused people who reject that account of having “Palantir derangement syndrome.”

A company spokesperson said Palantir’s software helps improve care. Palantir says NHS organisations using the platform have:

Protesters have also questioned how much the platform benefits public health. They say NHS England chief Jim Mackey has acknowledged those doubts.

Mosley has said Palantir’s technology in Gaza was used to find hostages, not select military targets. Last year, after a protester accused the company of killing Palestinians in Gaza, CEO Alex Karp replied that those killed were mostly terrorists.

The unanswered test

The formal objections cite Article 21 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and say Palantir’s involvement undermines trust in the privacy of NHS medical information. Palantir says patient data is processed only on NHS instructions and remains in the UK.

All 44,000 people also asked the NHS to suspend processing their data through the platform while their objections are considered. NHS England says NHS organisations retain control of data in the FDP, suppliers cannot use it for their own purposes, and it will review the objections under data-protection law.

I think the dispute is now about more than whether the platform can improve hospital operations. The company’s figures describe claimed service gains; they do not answer the separate question of whether patients trust the arrangement. For a system built around shared health data, that trust is not a side issue: the objections are a direct test of whether the NHS can deliver the platform’s benefits while keeping public confidence.