Key facts
- The 29 trusts listed by NHS England as realizing benefits said the system was not live or they were not using its applications, the Guardian reported.
- NHS England said nearly 140 trusts had reported benefits from tools on the platform.
- NHS England has said its benefits list includes trusts using the tools for back office data analysis and submission rather than patient care.
- The Office for Statistics Regulation said it would take the trusts' statements forward under its casework function.
- Palantir said trusts using its software recorded 117,000 additional operations and a 14.3% reduction in discharge delays for long stay patients.
More than two dozen hospital trusts that NHS England lists as realizing benefits from Palantir's federated data platform are not using all or most of the AI-powered technology, the Guardian reported. The 29 trusts named on the NHS England website as benefiting from the 330 million pound contract said the system was not live or that they were not using any of its applications.
The findings came from more than 100 freedom of information requests obtained by the medical charity Medact and shared with the Guardian. Epsom and St Helier said it was not using the platform at the moment, Kent and Medway said the system was not currently live, Mersey Care said it had not yet gone live, Nottingham University Hospitals said no implementation timeline had been agreed, and University Hospitals of North Midlands said it did not intend to roll the system out.
NHS England said nearly 140 trusts had reported benefits from the wide range of tools available on the platform, helping staff join up and improve care and work more efficiently. It has previously said its list includes trusts using the tools for back office data analysis and submission rather than to support patient care. Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust said it was not currently operationally using the platform but was recorded as live because infrastructure was in place to support data submission.
The Office for Statistics Regulation said it would take the trusts' statements forward under its casework function. NHS England has claimed 117,539 more operations were carried out by trusts using the platform in a year, but this summer conceded it could not prove cause and effect. A Palantir spokesperson said the software was helping deliver better care, with trusts recording 117,000 additional operations, a 14.3% reduction in discharge delays for long stay patients and a 5.6% improvement in the number of people finding out whether they have cancer within 28 days.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the Commons science and technology committee, called for the government to activate the 2027 break clause in Palantir's contract and launch an open competition for a UK-owned supplier. Palantir's UK and Europe chief executive, Louis Mosley, said ending the contract would be putting politics above patients. Palantir last month hired former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as a full-time senior lobbyist, and he has posted videos on X addressing criticism of the company.