NHS England refuses Palantir review

The outside of a building which has long vertical brown panels and the Palantir sign in silver at the top. NHS England is continuing its relationship with the tech firm.

NHS England has confirmed that patients “cannot opt out of Palantir’s platform”, the media watchdog group, NewsCord, has reported.

The information was obtained in response to a request for a formal review of Palantir’s Federated Data Platform, which NHS England has refused.

NHS England’s disappointing response

Regarding its correspondence with NHS England, NewsCord wrote on X:

NHS England has told us, in writing, that you cannot opt out of Palantir’s platform.

On 28 August, NHS England’s Data Protection Officer answered our demand for a formal review of the Federated Data Platform, the system Palantir built and runs under a 330 million pound contract. He refused the review. What he confirmed instead should alarm every patient in England.

“There is no opt out mechanism in place specifically for NHS FDP.” That is a direct quote. The National Data Opt-Out, which millions of us registered precisely to keep our confidential records out of schemes like this, “does not apply” to anything NHS England does on the platform. Every single use falls under a legal exemption. The opt-out you registered protects you from nothing here.

Your last remaining right, the right to object under the UK GDPR, has been refused in advance. For most of the data, NHS England says the right simply does not apply. For the rest, it claims “compelling legitimate grounds” for every patient at once, before anyone has even objected. The law requires that right to be weighed one person at a time. A right refused for everyone, in advance, is not a right. It is a decision they made about your body’s data without you.

The letter concedes that Palantir “has access to patient data”, including identifiable records. The only safeguard offered against misuse is that it “would potentially be a criminal offence”. And the DPO describes patient records with names removed as data in which nobody can be “directly or indirectly identified”. That is the definition of anonymous data, and it is wrong in law. Pseudonymised records can be traced back to you, which is exactly why the law still protects them.

Nearly three years into the contract, no independent evaluation has reported. Asked to answer the published studies showing hospitals are not benefiting, NHS England offered its own case studies, “user stories” and “a video animation”.

Just in, an official response from NHS England regarding the public’s right to opt out of their Palantir-run “Federated Data Platform”:

NHS England has told us, in writing, that you cannot opt out of Palantir's platform.

On 28 August, NHS England's Data Protection Officer… pic.twitter.com/6JhiA6f1OG

— NewsCord (@newscord_org) September 1, 2026

NewsCord first announced that patients cannot opt out of Palantir handling their data earlier this year, also noting:

▸ Palantir staff can access identifiable patient data before it’s pseudonymised
▸ There is no opt-out from the Federated Data Platform
▸ Your Article 21 right to object has been formally refused

They’ve confirmed it. They won’t change it.

Why NHS England’s decision is angering

The Canary has been critical of Palantir and its NHS Federated Data Platform. Reporting on a briefing from leading human rights groups in March, we wrote:

Assessing the risks posed by the company’s technology to patients and the NHS, the briefing raises alarm over data protection, governance, procurement practices, state surveillance and the wider human rights implications of embedding Palantir’s systems across the health service.

The briefing warns that adopting Palantir’s Foundry platform under the NHS Federated Data Platform could cause irreparable reputational damage to NHS bodies and permanently undermine public trust.

It argues that Palantir’s links to alleged human rights abuses, the US and Israeli militaries, controversial policing practices, deportations and surveillance operations should have excluded it from NHS procurement entirely.

UK hospitals urged to scrap Palantir over health and human rights risks

Making media outlets accountable

NewsCord describes itself as an “action and accountability hub”. The organisation runs numerous ‘actions‘, targeting media bias that make it simple for the public to get the attention of decisionmakers with pre-templated letters.

Last month, the Canary featured a NewsCord action focussed on writing to cinema chains about the new Ali G film.