Question
We have repeatedly asked the Board if they have already agreed, or are planning to agree, to Palantir’s management and processing of CUH patient data – so far with no success. This is an issue of great concern to patients and the public. The NHS has already awarded Palantir the contract for its Federated Data Platform but we understand that trusts can opt out and several already have.
The Board must be aware of Palantir’s many activities that make it the most unsuitable partner for a caring organisation such as the NHS. One that is especially worrying in the CUH context is its supply of analysed personal data that gives the Israeli Defence Force the ability to target individual Palestinians in Gaza – civilian as well as military.
Is CUH planning to allow this company access to our private medical information and if so what are the reasons?
Response:
The NHS England Medium Term Planning Framework requires all NHS healthcare providers to use the NHS FDP.
CUH is working with our regional healthcare partners to use OPTICA, which is part of the NHS FDP, to support complex patient discharges. We anticipate being live with this in early 2026. This will help to deliver the best care to our patients through national publicly funded systems, enhancing coordination between hospital and community care teams in our areas - helping our patients to transition from hospital to community care faster and more safely.
We are aware of some concerns raised about the supplier of the NHS FDP. The supplier was procured by NHS England through an independent and transparent procurement process in line with public contract regulation and legislation. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was not involved in this procurement process.
Please see our website for further information NHS Federated Data Platform | CUH
