{"id":1840,"date":"2026-02-13T15:54:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/?p=1840"},"modified":"2026-02-13T15:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:55:00","slug":"dauk-renews-warning-over-palantirs-role-in-the-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/dauk-renews-warning-over-palantirs-role-in-the-nhs\/","title":{"rendered":"DAUK renews warning over Palantir\u2019s role in the NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK) has reiterated its long-standing opposition to the NHS data contract with Palantir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr David Nicholl, DAUK committee member, said he feared hundreds of millions of pounds have been wasted on the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) at a time when frontline services were under unprecedented strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It follows&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2026\/feb\/12\/nhs-deal-with-ai-firm-palantir-called-into-question-after-officials-concerns-revealed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a report in the Guardian<\/a>&nbsp;that NHS officials warned in 2025 that public perception of Palantir would hinder the roll-out of the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Public perception<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Guardian reported: \u201cBy last summer fewer than half of health authorities in England had started using the technology amid opposition from the public and doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report also referenced concerns raised by the BMA on behalf of its members about links between Palantir and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/us\/business-us\/article\/big-short-michael-burry-claims-emperor-palantir-has-no-clothes-z9zpt00s6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Times<\/a>&nbsp;reported on comments by investor Michael Burry that \u2018Emperor Palantir has no clothes\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DAUK has consistently challenged Palantir\u2019s involvement in the NHS since it first raised concerns&nbsp;five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">FDP contract<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2023, NHS England awarded Palantir the FDP contract valued at around \u00a3330 million, which was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dauk.org\/lucrative-data-contract-terrible-deal-for-the-nhs-taxpayers-and-patients-says-dauk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described at the time by DAUK as a \u2018terrible deal\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Nicholl said the size of the contract was \u2018galling\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe spent hundreds of millions of pounds on this, which could have been used for direct patient care, when NHS England didn\u2019t even complete the pilot study,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Waste of money<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has been forced on trusts by NHS England. It feels like a spectacular waste of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Nicholl said DAUK had previously attempted to challenge the procurement process through the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He questioned how the contract was allowed to proceed when, as early as 2019, senior civil servants were meeting Palantir executives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Nicholl said: \u201cDAUK has been speaking about this for more than five years. Sadly, it feels like a case of we told you so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Alternatives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere were alternatives. British tech companies that could have helped solve the same problems yet, instead, we\u2019re investing in a controversial US firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI find it very upsetting when I think what we could have invested that money in,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are a non-profit campaigning and lobbying organisation led by frontline doctors, for frontline doctors. We are volunteers and our collective aim is to give frontline workers a voice to be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please support our work by contributing to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-the-work-of-the-doctors-association-uk-dauk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">our crowd funder<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK) has reiterated its long-standing opposition to the NHS data contract with Palantir. Dr David Nicholl, DAUK committee member, said he feared&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":1589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[382,531,732],"class_list":["post-1840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-nhs","tag-dr-david-nicholl","tag-nhs-data","tag-palantir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1841,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840\/revisions\/1841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}