FDP ‘here to stay’ says Patel as Palantir contract faces review

Nirav Patel, head of demand and delivery for the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) programme at NHS England, has said the platform is “here to stay” but the current contract will be reviewed ahead of a decision next year on whether to extend it.

In NHS England’s June FDP bulletin, Patel said that “the single most important thing to know is the NHS FDP is delivering for patients, it is having a profound impact on the way in which the NHS operates, and it is here to stay”.

US data analytics firm Palantir signed a £330m contract in 2023 to provide the FDP, which is intended to provide a single platform for analysing operational NHS data, including waiting lists, theatre utilisation and discharge management.

There has been increasing concern about the NHS supplier’s provision of surveillance software to organisations including the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the British Medical Association calling on NHS doctors to limit use of the FDP and growing calls for the NHS to cut ties with Palantir.

Patel confirmed the initial three-year term of the FDP contract with Palantir ends in March 2027, with NHS England then having the option to extend the contract by two years and then two further one-year periods – giving the contract a potential end date of March 2031.

“In line with standard contract management practice, the contract is being reviewed this year to inform a decision on whether to exercise the optional two-year extension, based on value for money, delivery performance and alignment to NHS priorities.

“Any decision to extend the contract will be taken by Ministers in line with governance and regulatory processes,” he said.

Digital Health News reported in April 2026 that government figures were considering using a contractual break clause to end the agreement with Palantir early.

He made clear that data in the FDP “remains under NHS control at all times” and that “the supplier does not control the data in the platform, nor are they permitted to access, use or share it for their own purposes”.

“Were they to act – as some social media posts I’ve seen have suggested – they would be breaking the contract and the law,” Patel added.

Last week, health innovation and safety minister Preet Kaur Gill apologised for NHS England’s handling of information provided to the National Data Guardian (NDG) on access to patient data within the FDP.

The concerns related to NHS England documentation submitted to the NDG, which incorrectly described who could access identifiable patient data within parts of the FDP.

A report in the Financial Times last week suggested that the waiting list reductions attributed to the FDP are heavily driven by figures from a small number of NHS hospitals, with one trust accounting for the majority of outpatient waiting list removals cited by NHS England.

Despite the criticism, Patel said adoption of the platform continued to grow, with 170 NHS trusts now signed up, 139 live on the platform and 137 reporting benefits.

Patel said the FDP was “performing strongly”, with adoption and benefits exceeding expectations, and described it as a “key enabler of the 10 year health plan”.