use MY data

NHS England announce seven-year contract with Palantir worth £330m to deliver a “federated data platform”

Latest update 9 May 2024

Following the publication of the Federated Data Platform (FDP) contract between NHS England and Palantir, on 10 January our Executive Group Chair & Vice Chair wrote to Amanda Pritchard, the CEO of NHS England, on behalf of use MY data.

While the progress of the FDP and the publication of the contract was welcomed, we were concerned about the heavy redaction within the contract and the damage that this could do to public and patient confidence in the use of patient data. Opt-outs were/are likely to increase and while these will not affect the FDP, they will definitely affect research and planning.

NHS England had published information to say that they are “continuing work on the final redactions, and it is anticipated that additional parts of the contract will be provided in due course…”. use MY data requested timescales for the publication and asked that the redactions we highlighted be published as fully as possible (with the possible exception of the data security elements).

We aimed to make the full text of the letter available when we have received a response from NHS England.

On 19 April we sent a follow-up letter to Amanda, as we had not received a reply to our previous letter. Our follow-up letter acknowledged and welcomed the publication on 21 March of a less redacted contract. Alongside this, the letter highlighted that information on the role of the public is awaited, specifically with:

regard to arrangements for monitoring delivery and value of the contract &
involvement with the project plan for the contract, that would include deadlines or a timescale with milestones for the work.

On 03 May 2024 we received a reply from Ming Tang, Chief Data and Analytics Officer and Senior Responsible Officer for the NHS Federated Data Platform programme, which is available here.

Background

On 21 November 2023 NHS England announced that “the NHS will roll out new software from spring next year to deliver better joined-up care for millions of patients, help tackle waiting lists and reduce hospital discharge delays.”

“The contract to provide the software has been awarded to a group led by Palantir Technologies UK, with support from Accenture, PwC, NECS and Carnall Farrar.”

“The Federated Data Platform will also be the first use case in the NHS of Privacy Enhancing Technology (NHS-PET), a nationally assured and funded privacy tool to benefit all NHS organisations.”

A core principle of use MY data is that we want patient data to be used to save lives and improve outcomes. The Federated Data Platform can help achieve this.

We look forward to learning more details about the FDP so that we can comment on how it will heed our other core principles; that it must be transparent, inclusive, communicated effectively and clearly, and reflect the views of patients.

The publication by NHS England of a set of updated Frequently Asked Questions and an Engagement Portal is a positive step. Transparency is key around any use of patient data.

We are pleased to see an independent Check and Challenge group being established “to continue to help NHS England understand and respond to the questions and comments coming in through the new information portal, and to help create a culture of ongoing public engagement around how the NHS makes the best and fair use of data to transform care”..

We look forward to seeing the Terms of Reference and membership of the group, in which patient and public voices will be essential to build confidence in the FDP. We are ready and able to provide such a voice and bring our collective patient experience to serve on the group if invited to do so.

END

Note: You can read related questions we previously flagged to NHS England ("Bringing clarity to national patient data activity in England") here.