Greater Manchester Rejects Palantir NHS Contract
Original: The Single English County Saying No to Palantir
Why This Matters
The case tests whether national AI health infrastructure contracts can withstand political, ethical, and regional sovereignty pressures.
The UK government faces a decision by February 2027 on whether to terminate its $400M+ NHS contract with Palantir. Greater Manchester's health board has declined to adopt Palantir's Federated Data Platform, arguing its own homegrown system is functionally superior and more trusted by patients and clinicians.
In 2023, the UK commissioned Palantir to build a 'Federated Data Platform' (FDP) for the NHS, worth over $400 million, designed to ingest and organize fragmented health data across England. The platform, which began rolling out in early 2024, includes a national data pool and regional databases for local analyses such as waitlist management and discharge planning. Palantir and NHS officials claim the system is already cutting wait times and maximizing operating theatre use. However, the contract has become politically contentious amid Palantir's involvement in US military operations and the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, sparking protests, petitions, and parliamentary inquiries in the UK. Greater Manchester's NHS health board has repeatedly refused to adopt the FDP, instead maintaining its own platform developed over nearly a decade. Matt Hennessey, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at NHS Greater Manchester, told WIRED: 'If we were to fully adopt the FDP… it would be a retrograde step,' citing superior functionality and stronger public trust in their existing system. The UK government has until February 2027 to decide whether to terminate the contract early or allow it to run until 2031. The situation is drawing broader attention across Europe, where governments are reassessing dependencies on US-built technology.