He argued that data sovereignty means more than keeping health data on British soil. Ending a contract would not, by itself, give the NHS the control it lacks: the freedom to switch supplier without losing what it has built.
Palantir has claimed a 14% fall in discharge delays. The Health Foundation, Coleman said, has found no noticeable change. He said the government has also said it would explore how to move applications on to a different platform only if the contract ended, and that it declined to audit which Palantir tools hospital trusts depend on.
He said a data platform works only if patients trust it, and that mistrust of Palantir is already driving growing opt-outs. The NHS’s dependence on the company also worries the national data guardian, he said. Ben Coleman has said it is not too late for the NHS to reverse its dependence on Palantir, warning that health data must not be locked into the control of a US technology firm.
In June, Coleman said, they recommended no extension of the arrangement. People do not trust Palantir, its benefits are contested, and other tools could deliver the same or similar advantages, he wrote. Ministers have assured him that the NHS is not locked into Palantir’s service. Coleman said he has asked Jim Mackey, the NHS chief executive, why the service lets Palantir claim otherwise.
Local NHS data teams, British technology firms and thinktanks have told him they are not convinced by the case for staying with Palantir, he said.