The contrast was described as very misleading by one senior health official. NHS England has previously faced scrutiny over how it has used data to defend the Palantir contract, which began in 2024.
The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, faces calls from MPs and campaigners to axe the US firm’s contract to deliver the flagship government AI system. The platform aims to connect scattered medical files, speed up hospital discharges and improve surgery scheduling.
It is understood that trusts that say they do not use the federated data platform may use a small part of its functionality to help calculate treatment costs.
The gap emerged from more than 100 freedom of information requests. NHS England’s website states that 137 trusts are live with the platform. Of those described as realising benefits, 29 replied that they were either not using the system or its apps.
A Palantir spokesperson said the software was helping to deliver better care, with trusts using it recording 117,000 additional operations, a 14.3% reduction in discharge delays for long-stay patients and a 5.6% improvement in people finding out whether they have cancer within 28 days.
NHS England insisted nearly 140 trusts have now reported benefits from tools on the platform, helping staff join up care and work more efficiently. It has previously said its list includes trusts using the tools for back-office data analysis and submission rather than to support patient care. Twenty-nine hospital trusts that NHS England publicly lists as realising benefits from Palantir’s £330m federated data platform have said the system is not live or that they are not using any of its applications.
The Commons health select committee is also calling for ministers to pull Palantir’s deal. One critic said ministers should activate the 2027 break clause and launch an open competition for a UK-owned supplier. Campaigners said benefits must be reported accurately, transparently and in a way that can be properly verified. They asked whether ministers were being misled if they used the figures to make decisions.
NHS England has said it is great that a number of trusts that have adopted the platform are benefiting from the nationally funded programme, but that public support depends on accurate reporting.