Palantir: NHS pilot’s “success” is questioned as second figure at major trust is linked to the tech giant

Data used to justify the expansion of controversial software in the NHS is flawed, experts say, and the pilot trust’s innovation adviser worked directly for Palantir Government contracts with the controversial US tech giant Palantir are under fresh scrutiny, with ministers reportedly mulling scrapping a contract with the NHS.1 The £330m deal for Palantir—which also provides services to US immigration enforcement and the Israeli military—was intended to create a federated data platform (FDP) for NHS England to help streamline health service data. But now data seen by The BMJ suggest that pilots of the FDP, run at Chelsea and Westminster Foundation Trust and subsequently promoted as a Palantir success story, are flawed. When challenged on the controversial partnership with Palantir, NHS England has repeatedly pointed to the supposed benefits the FDP is bringing to the health service. Hailed as an example of these benefits is Chelsea and Westminster, described by the UK government “as national exemplar for AI.” The trust was one of the first to pilot the FDP, and the apparent “success” was used as grounds for expanding the pilot to others, with NHS England eventually awarding the full FDP contract to Palantir. But data seen by The BMJ suggest that two key claims regarding these pilots overstate the benefits of Palantir software. In January 2022, Chelsea and Westminster piloted a care coordination solution, a precursor of the FDP, which included a theatre management tool originally developed with Palantir, at the trust. NHS England board minutes claim that this tool helped to increase theatre use. Multiple sources, including a Palantir blog and an NHS report, also claim that the use of an FDP at Chelsea and Westminster helped bring down the inpatient elective surgery waiting list by 28%. While very few claims of FDP benefit have shared any …