Post by @nicol@social.coop

“Does the £330m federated data platform (FDP) live up to the claims of #Palantir and #NHS England?…

“Dozens of the trusts that NHS England says are using the FDP appear not to have logged into a single FDP app in the past year, according to internal usage data released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Cancer 360 tool, which Keir Starmer lauded last year as “groundbreaking new technology” that would “slash treatment delays across the NHS”, was used by just six out of about 200 trusts in the nine months since it launched…
“Clinicians’ reluctance around using Palantir’s software is less ideological – although some object on this basis, too – and more practical: many trusts say that the FDP is slower and less effective than their existing technology. NHS analysts say it can take five minutes or more to run a basic query. As NHS Greater #Manchester’s chief data officer told the health select committee: “We can match anything that the Palantir FDP can do.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/15/palantir-british-state-political-access-us-tech-firm-nhs

the Guardian

I investigated Palantir’s foothold in the British state – and what I found should worry us all | Peter Geoghegan

Paid-for political access and threadbare regulations have helped to embed the US tech firm in the NHS – and beyond. But there is a way to free ourselves, asks Peter Geoghegan of Democracy for Sale

#nhs #palantir #manchester

Nicol Wistreich

@nicol@social.coop 7 hours ago

“The true cost of Palantir’s FDP is much greater than £330m. Individual trusts have been given as much as £3m each to encourage implementation. Consultancy giant KPMG was even given an £8.5m contract to push the FDP across the health service.

Among the biggest challenges is Palantir’s own software. Foundry is a proprietary product. Some NHS data analysts told us that all their work on the FDP would be lost if they no longer had access to Palantir’s platform. This raises concerns over what many experts call “vendor lock in”. Once you start using a Silicon Valley tech company’s product, it can be very hard to move off it – even if you are dissatisfied with the service.”
It’s a scandal up there with PPE, and with Mandelson’s involvement in pushing it needs not just exiting the contract but an inquiry.