GP data quietly added to Palantir’s NHS data platform

Patient data from GP surgeries is being added to the NHS’s Palantir-built data platform in a significant expansion beyond its current use in hospitals.

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, the integrated care board (ICB) responsible for planning and commissioning local health services, has overseen the sharing of patient data from five local GP practices into its version of the Federated Data Platform (FDP), according to an internal NHS briefing note seen by the FT.

The FDP is highly controversial because it is being built by Palantir, a US technology company that has ties to the US defence sector and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

When the £330mn FDP contract was awarded, a ministerial statement to parliament noted that the original deal “makes strict stipulations about confidentiality”, adding that “no new data will be collected, and GP data will not be part of the national platform”.

GP records contain the most comprehensive picture of a patient’s long-term health and their inclusion expands the FDP beyond its current role as a hospital operations platform.

However, officials insisted that the development related only to a local system and not the national platform cited in parliament.

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said: “This pilot aims to assess the value of insights from general practice data within the Strategic Commissioning Tool on the NHS Federated Data Platform, supporting population health management. Data-sharing agreements are in place with the small number of practices participating in the pilot.”

An internal NHS note called the pilot involving five GP practices a “significant milestone for the FDP”, adding that “the value of linking primary care data to the national commissioning datasets was recognised early on”.

A separate internal NHS England briefing document seen by the FT, written in early 2025, shows officials acknowledged that any decision to incorporate GP data into the platform was “high risk” and “needed” engagement with the public.

The impact assessment stated that “at the outset of the FDP programme” there was no need to include personally identifiable GP data.

Palantir, whose software is widely used by US defence and intelligence agencies, is facing growing scrutiny as the UK government re-evaluates its dependence on US technology.

MPs on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee have called Palantir’s presence in the UK public sector an “unacceptable point of weakness” and urged ministers to trigger the 2027 break clause in its £330mn NHS contract.

In a letter to MPs on the health select committee earlier this month, the new health minister James Frith admitted that “mistrust” in Palantir could hamper “people’s willingness to share data with the NHS”.

“It may not be possible to realise the benefits of the 10-year health plan if patients stop sharing their data,” he added.

An NHS spokesperson said: “We have always been clear that the NHS Federated Data Platform will support several key priorities for the NHS, including population health management.

“The platform is helping local organisations to improve planning for health and care services, and this may include local organisations accessing GP data in cases where they have local data-sharing agreements in place.”

Palantir said it was “proud that our software is helping to improve patient care nationally”, pointing to a 15 per cent reduction in discharge delays for long-stay patients among other improvements.

“Our role is to provide software,” the company added. “How that software is used is entirely under the control of the NHS, with data only able to be processed in accordance with their strict instructions.”