NHS research stands to lose substantial patient information after Health Innovation Minister James Frith told MPs a rise in national data opt-outs coincided with attention on the US technology firm Palantir. Officials recorded 60,000 additional patients withdrawing their records from use in research and planning between mid-May and mid-July, a figure Frith described as modest but one he said will be monitored closely.
Frith also warned of broader consequences, saying, "It may not be possible to realise the benefits of the 10-year health plan if patients stop sharing their data." Opting out does not prevent clinicians from using records for direct care, but it bars secondary use for service improvement and study, narrowing the datasets available to planners and researchers.
The government is weighing whether to exercise a break clause in Palantir’s £330m contract for the federated data platform. That contract has prompted public protests outside Palantir’s London offices and sustained criticism from doctors and patient groups, who point to the company’s past work with the Israeli military and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and question the value for money delivered.
Palantir and its supporters cite operational improvements in trusts that use its tools, including 110,000 extra operations, a 15% fall in discharge delays for long-stay patients, and a 6.8% improvement in the share of people told whether they have cancer within 28 days. NHS England has published similar figures, but it cautioned it cannot "draw conclusions about cause and effect." The government’s statistics watchdog has opened an investigation into the data.
Political pressure has already produced tangible results. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, blocked a proposed £50m Metropolitan Police contract with Palantir, prompting legal action by the company. Frith signalled a policy shift on whether trusts must adopt the Palantir-powered federated data platform, telling MPs "there is no requirement to use the FDP" and indicating organisations may select alternative systems.
Layla Moran, chair of the Commons health committee, welcomed the change and urged ministers to move fast, calling for a switch of provider rather than an extension of the current seven-year deal. With ministers deciding whether to break the contract and watchdogs probing claimed benefits, the immediate next steps are a ministerial contract review and continued monitoring of opt-out trends. The outcome will shape how much patient data is available for future NHS research and whether the federated platform remains central to national data plans.
