Palantir’s contract with the NHS opens the door to Big Brother-style data sharing that Reform UK would use for a version of US immigration raids, health chiefs have been told.
Palantir Technologies, the data analytics company founded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp, has won a £330 million NHS England contract to deliver the federated data platform in 2023.
The UK government is urging health bodies to adopt the FDP, which health secretary Wes Streeting says will ensure the NHS “enters the digital age”.
But there are concerns that Palantir, whose AI tools are used in global conflicts, could be integrated into the UK public sector.
A briefing by health justice charity Medact said the “highly interoperable nature” of Palantir’s software could enable “data-driven abuses of state power”, including US-style ICE raids.
The report, published on Thursday and backed by doctors, lawyers, patients and human rights groups from the No Palantir in the NHS campaign and sent to hospital trusts and integrated care boards across the country, was shared with The Guardian and BMJ.
In the US, ICE (US Customs and Immigration Enforcement) uses Palantir software for analysis of intergovernmental data, including health data, to track people. In the UK, Reform UK, which announced plans for a British version of ICE in February, has said it would use data sharing.
Palantir told The Guardian that it had “no intention or means to use the data in the way the Medact report suggests. Doing so would be illegal and in breach of contract.”
However, concerns lie with the cross-departmental “drag and drop” capabilities of the Palantir software if a future UK government changes the law, as Reform has pledged to facilitate “mass deportation”.
A 2025 policy document for Reform’s “Operation Justice Restoration” promised an “uncompromising legal reset”, adding: “A reform government… will ruthlessly identify and detain all illegal immigrants in the UK. Using the powers granted by the new legislation, it will automatically share data between the Home Office, the NHS, HMRC, the DVLA, banks and the police.”
Palantir software is used by UK police forces and the Ministry of Defence. A company source said Palantir collaborates and consults with the UK government on policy issues, and vice versa.
Medact’s report urges trusts and ICBs to “urgently reject” the FDP as NHS England terminates the contract, saying partnering with Palantir risks undermining patient trust and “driving locally tailored, trusted data solutions”.
Greater Manchester ICB, which has health decision-making responsibilities for 2.8 million people, has deferred the adoption of the FDP, concluding that the adoption “may not present value for money and pose a risk to public confidence” and that “local capacity significantly exceeded” what the FDP offered.
More than 50,000 patients have written to local trust boards urging them not to adopt FDP, said Medact’s Dr Rhiannon Osborne.
Osborne added: Palantir’s contracts with public bodies, including the NHS, are part of the expansion of invasive data and surveillance practices in the UK.”
The report said: “This report is concerned that FDP, by bringing disparate health data sets together on a single platform managed by Palantir, could allow UK government departments, such as the Home Office and police departments, to more easily access patient data.
“Palantir’s services to other governments, including its contract with ICE, have involved significant cross-departmental data collection and analysis… There is a risk that a current or future government could use a Palantir-led FDP for data-driven abuses of state power in ways they could not with current NHS data systems.”
A Palantir spokesperson said: “Palantir software is playing an important role in improving patient care – helping to deliver an additional 100,000 operations, a 12% reduction in discharge delays and removing 675,000 patients from waiting lists.
“How that software is used is completely under the control of the NHS and the data can only be processed in accordance with their strict instructions.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.
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