There are concerns that the contract for NHS England’s planned federated data platform (FDP) could be awarded to US corporation Palantir.

Originally it was going to be a single £400m contract for the entire project, however, it has now been separated into four separate contracts; companies bidding for the largest £360m data platform contract (FDP) are unable to bid for any of the other three.

According to Ming Tang, the chief data and analytics officer at NHS England, this was done to “safeguard” the service. She added: “Whoever processes the platform cannot own the privacy enhancing technology so the key transfer [of data] is safe”.

Whilst I welcome this separation, a corporation, quite possibly Palantir, is set to be awarded a £360m data contract and access to NHS patient data. As patients, we need to be assured that our data will be kept safe and not exploited for profit, and we need transparency on how our data will be used. I do not believe that patients have received this assurance.

I have written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, and raised this issue with him. I have posted a copy of this letter below for you to see.

The procurement process for the FDP was due to launch in September 2022, however, this has now been delayed without a new date being provided. I can assure you that I will follow developments in this area closely.