Highlights
- Greater Manchester has built its own NHS data systems instead of joining Palantir’s national platform.
- Sadiq Khan blocked a £50m Palantir contract with the Metropolitan Police in May.
- Palantir is facing growing scrutiny over its role in Britain’s public services.
- The NHS says its platform is helping hospitals manage waiting lists and improve patient care.
GREATER MANCHESTER has become an important test case in the growing argument over whether the NHS needs US tech firm Palantir to manage its data.
While much of England has signed up to the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), Greater Manchester has continued to operate without joining the national system, instead relying on data and analytical systems it has developed locally.
That decision has gained new attention as the government reviews the future of its £330 million contract with a consortium led by Palantir.
It also puts Greater Manchester alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has taken his own decision to stop a Palantir contract with the Metropolitan Police.
Palantir, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, a close ally of US president Donald Trump, has enjoyed a growing role in Britain's public sector and the contract, awarded in 2023, allows it to provide a data management platform to the NHS.
Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board, which oversees health services for about 2.8 million people, has repeatedly declined to join the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP).
The region already had its own data and analytics capability and concluded that it did not need to adopt the national platform.
A May 2026 report said Greater Manchester remained opposed to joining the FDP, with the ICB saying public concerns about Palantir had increased and that there was no compelling evidence that the case for adopting the platform had changed.
Matt Hennessy, chief data and analytical officer for the region, told MPs in June that the Greater Manchester system had been developed to meet local needs.
He was among experts giving evidence to a parliamentary committee examining the NHS FDP and its rollout.
Khan has taken a similar stand
The debate has a particularly strong London connection through mayor Sadiq Khan.
In May, he blocked a planned £50m Palantir contract with the Metropolitan Police after raising concerns about the procurement process.
Palantir accused Khan of putting politics above public safety and later announced that it would take legal action over the decision.
The legal dispute is continuing. Khan agreed in September to allow his emails and text messages to be searched as part of the case.
Khan's decision does not concern the NHS, and the reasons for his intervention were related to procurement rather than patient data. But it has made him one of the most prominent British politicians to challenge a Palantir deal involving a major public service.
That gives his dispute with the company a wider significance as the government considers the future of the NHS contract.
The NHS FDP is designed to connect information held in separate NHS systems, allowing staff to see and analyse operational information in one environment. It is used for areas including waiting-list management, discharge planning and hospital capacity.
NHS England says the platform is now live in 139 trusts, with 170 trusts having signed up as of the end of May 2026.
The government says the system is helping patients receive treatment more quickly.
A Department of Health minister told Parliament in June that more than 100,000 additional patients had been supported to undergo procedures in theatres since March 2024, while nearly 94,000 people had been supported on their cancer journey. The government also reported a 14 per cent fall in delays involving patients who had been in hospital for more than seven days.
A question of control
The Palantir debate is not simply about whether the technology works. It is also about who controls the systems that increasingly sit at the centre of public services.
The NHS says Palantir acts as a data processor and that NHS England remains the data controller. The government has also said the FDP is designed so that NHS patient data can only be used for health and care purposes.
But concerns about dependence on a US technology company remain.
The current FDP contract was awarded in November 2023 and is worth up to £330m over seven years. It has a review point after its first three years, followed by further reviews during the contract period.
That review allows ministers to consider not only the platform's reported benefits but also whether the NHS should continue depending on the same supplier.
The Manchester model does not prove that every NHS region could simply replace the FDP with a locally developed system.
Greater Manchester has spent years building its own data infrastructure, and the NHS says the national FDP is already producing operational benefits across hospitals.
