NHS gives Palantir wider access to patient data

Published: 2026-05-12 01:21:08 ET PLTR

Published on 05/12/2026 at 01:21 am EDT

NHS England has expanded access to sensitive patient data for external contractors working on its controversial Palantir-backed data.

The move has sparked concerns over privacy and the growing influence of American Big Techs inside the UK's health service.

According to the Financial Times, internal briefing documents show NHS officials approved new special 'admin' roles giving some non--NHS staff wide access to patient information within a key part of the Federated Data Platform (FDP).

The FDP, a £330m worth project led by US data titan Palantir, was designed to connect fragmented legacy NHS systems and create one unified data platform across its services.

Under the new rules, external staff from companies including Palantir could receive even more access permissions inside the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT).

The NDIT is a secure system where patient information is stored before being pseudonymised and relocated across NHS systems.

The internal note wrote that the move carries a "risk of loss of public confidence" around privacy and data protection.