Major UK health and human rights organisations are calling on every NHS trust in England to refuse a government directive to adopt controversial US analytics company Palantir’s data platform.
A broad coalition including Amnesty International, the British Medical Association, Privacy International, and the Good Law Project has urged hospital trusts via email to decline NHS England’s instruction to sign up to Palantir’s Federated Data Platform (FDP), citing serious concerns about data security, patient confidentiality, and the firm’s past involvement with US immigration enforcement.
The intervention comes as adoption of the £330 million platform remains sluggish across England’s hospital network, with fewer than a third of trusts actively using the system more than two years after the contract was awarded.
Why the alarm over Palantir?
The principal concern centres on Palantir Technologies’ well-documented work with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The company provided technology that allegedly processed and linked separate datasets, including medical records, for immigration enforcement purposes.
This history has prompted the British Medical Association, representing over 200,000 doctors across the UK, to take an unprecedented stance. In a letter published in February 2026, BMA Chair Tom Dolphin called for “a complete break from Palantir technologies in the NHS,” urging doctors to “immediately take steps to explore refusing any non-direct care usage” of the platform.
The BMA’s concern is fundamental: if patients believe their NHS data could be shared with government agencies for purposes beyond healthcare—such as immigration enforcement or border control—they may withhold medical information from their doctors. This erosion of trust directly threatens patient safety and the effectiveness of treatment.
“Where patients no longer feel able to trust the NHS to handle their data confidentially or worry that personal information they share with their doctor will be used for purposes which they do not expect, this will undermine public trust in a confidential health service,” the BMA stated in formal guidance to members.
Political risk to patient data
The concerns extend beyond historical precedent. Reform UK has publicly announced plans to create a UK Deportation Command that would share data between the Home Office, NHS, HM Revenue and Customs, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, banks, and police to identify and deport undocumented migrants.
Campaign group Medact, which coordinated the coalition’s message to NHS trusts, emphasised that once Palantir systems are embedded in the NHS, “the Home Office, police forces across the country, and current or future UK governments could use NHS data for other purposes.”
Whilst NHS England sources have stated that contractual safeguards require Palantir to act only as a “data processor” under NHS instruction, legal experts have flagged a significant loophole: the US CLOUD Act may require US-connected companies to disclose data to the US Government regardless of what UK contracts specify.
Weak uptake signals deeper problems
Beyond data governance concerns, the platform itself appears to be underperforming. According to NHS figures, fewer than a quarter of England’s 215 hospital trusts were actively using the FDP by the end of 2024. Even after NHS England contracted KPMG for an £8 million “adoption promotion” programme, Palantir claims only 72 trusts were live as of May 2025—still less than a third of the total.
Some trusts have been brutally candid about why they are refusing to adopt the system. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust told NHS England in a private letter that using some FDP tools would cause it to “lose functionality rather than gain it.” Greater Manchester’s health authority reported there were “no products designed or produced by Palantir as part of the FDP programme that exceed local capability,” according to open letters from the NHS Chief Data and Analytical Officer Network.
The slow rollout matters because Palantir’s £330 million contract includes a break clause in February 2027—meaning NHS England will face a critical decision point within the coming year about whether to continue the relationship.
What the coalition is saying
The formal briefing document circulated by Medact and its supporting organisations—which includes Privacy International, the Good Law Project, Just Treatment, Corporate Watch, and the United Tech and Allied Workers Union—outlines four main objections: Palantir’s controversial track record, data security risks within the FDP, potential harm to patient trust in the NHS, and the risk that government departments could weaponise health data once Palantir’s infrastructure is in place.
“We know the FDP rollout is not going to plan, and we know that NHS England is under intense pressure to cancel the contract when it reaches its break clause in February 2027,” said Rhiannon Osborne of Medact. “Fifty thousand patients have written formal complaints to their hospitals. It’s a key time for local hospitals to exercise their autonomy.”
The coalition’s message to NHS trusts emphasises that hospitals have the legal autonomy to refuse NHS England’s directive, which was framed as planning guidance rather than an enforceable instruction.
Palantir has defended its work, stating that its software “is helping to deliver better public services in the UK,” including NHS operations and policing applications. The company denies allegations that its platform has been deployed for predictive policing workflows.
Source: @bmj_latest
Key Takeaways
- A coalition of health, human rights, and patient organisations has urged all NHS trusts in England to refuse to adopt Palantir’s Federated Data Platform, citing patient trust concerns and the company’s past work with US immigration enforcement
- The BMA is advising its 200,000 members to explore refusing non-clinical use of the platform and calling for a complete end to Palantir contracts with the NHS
- Adoption remains slow, with fewer than a third of hospital trusts actively using the system more than two years after the £330 million contract was awarded
- Concerns centre on whether NHS data could be accessed by the Home Office, police, or future governments once Palantir infrastructure is embedded in the health service
What This Means for Kent Residents
For patients across Kent and Medway, this controversy raises important questions about NHS data governance. Kent and Medway NHS Trust, which serves over 1.7 million people, will need to decide whether to adopt the FDP platform. If your local hospital is considering implementation, you have the right to know how your data will be protected and whether it could be shared with government agencies beyond healthcare purposes.
If you have concerns about how your NHS data is being used or stored, you can request information from your local trust’s data protection officer or contact NHS England’s patient information team. Your GP practice can also explain their data-sharing policies upon request. As the debate around this contract intensifies ahead of the February 2027 break clause, patient voices matter in shaping NHS technology decisions.
