England’s National Health Service has confirmed that staff from Palantir Technologies and other contractors will be granted broader access to identifiable patient data under its £330 million Federated Data Platform (FDP), a system designed to ‘improve data sharing’ and reduce post-pandemic backlogs.
As reported by The Financial Times yesterday, under the new policy, selected external staff can receive an ‘admin’ role allowing access to the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT), where patient data is stored before being pseudonymised for analysis. Previously, Palantir staff had to apply for access to specific datasets individually.
The US surveillance firm is known for supplying software to the US military, immigration enforcement (ICE), and the Israeli Occupation Forces.
An internal NHS briefing warned that giving contractors unlimited access could risk a loss of public confidence in promises to safeguard patient information. Privacy campaigners highlighted the issue was not only access itself but a lack of transparency about how the rules had changed, with the public learning of the shift through leaks rather than clear disclosure.
NHS England said strict controls remain in place, including government security clearance, director-level approval and regular audits for anyone external accessing patient records.
