Manchester hits snooze again on joining Palantir-run NHS data platform
- Reference: 1763629283
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/20/manchester_nhs_fdp_deferred/
- Source link:
The national Federated Data Platform (FDP) was created by the US spy-tech firm under a much-criticized £330 million ($445 million) seven-year contract awarded in November 2023. NHS England, the health quango set to be merged into the central government health department, signed the deal with the controversial US vendor after a series of non-competitive deals totaled £60 million ($81 million).
Greater Manchester ICB, which manages health services for 2.8 million people, deferred a decision on whether to sign up to the FDP. It is the only ICB in England to do so.
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[2]A board meeting in May heard how NHS England had not addressed its concerns around risks . An earlier report to the board by chief intelligence and analytics officer Matt Hennessey found Manchester's local capacity in data analytics "exceeds anything the FDP currently offers and that some of the capabilities we currently have actively in use… are around two to three years away from being fully operational with the FDP environment."
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A meeting of Greater Manchester ICB this week was presented with a a decision to defer adoption of the FDP again until more evidence becomes available.
Manchester Integrated Care Partnership (also known as NHS Greater Manchester) oversees care and directs NHS funding in Greater Manchester. In his report to the board, CEO Mark Fisher said: "We will work with NHS England colleagues to co-develop a roadmap that establishes the criteria for value-based adoption and identifies the point at which the FDP adoption is in the best interests of the GM population."
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NHS Greater Manchester has spent six years building its own analytics system on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform with technology from data pipeline vendor Matillion, analytics and data lake company Snowflake, data visualization firm Tableau, University of Manchester's eLab, and others.
Fisher's report said the service continued to expand its local capability in support of strategic commissioning of health and population health management. "We have been able to gather compelling evidence that our use of data and insight is leading to action that genuinely saves lives," it said. "For example, in the case of our targeted GP incentive schemes, in just one year, it is estimated we have prevented around 180 heart attacks and 200 strokes."
[6]Palantir plots NHS skills drive for its controversial data platform
[7]Johnson, Cummings met Thiel months before Palantir won NHS pandemic role
[8]Write-back to aging UK health systems lessens benefits of Palantir-based platform
[9]One of Britain's largest health trusts says 'no ta' to Palantir-run data platform – for now
He said a more detailed paper to support a review of the deferral decision and outlining how NHS Greater Manchester would "move forward" would be presented at a future meeting, although he did not give a date.
Last year, Shona Dunn, the Department of Health and Social Care accounting officer for the FDP, said that the full business case estimated that the platform will realize benefits in the order of £780 million over the seven-year appraisal period. This includes cash-releasing benefits up to £60 million per year within five years and non-cash-releasing benefits in the order of £55 million per year within five years.
In May, an NHS England spokesperson said: "The Federated Data Platform (FDP) is already delivering for the NHS – helping to join up patient care, increase hospital productivity and ensure thousands of additional patients can be treated each month. More than 120 NHS trusts have signed up to use the platform, including 84 percent of hospital trusts, and 72 are already live as part of a phased rollout to provide better care and services for patients."
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NHS England has been contacted for a further response. ®
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[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/10/writeback_to_ageing_nhs_systems/
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Because Microsoft (Azure) is not a potential adversary? Manchester makes a great case for not accepting vendor lock in, but they don't seek to make a case for sovereignty, that's just El Reg's spin.
Waiting for evidence?
... still waiting for evidence that it will be in the best interests of the population.
Right ...
That will happen when hell freezes over. Twice.
Or ...
When the right size brown envelope is found.
Full of evidence, obviously.
.
Re: Waiting for evidence?
However, the evidence that it wasn’t in the UKs interest will be found in the near future when someone discovers an unsecured cloud bucket containing UK personally identifiable medical data, that happens to be owned by Trump Medical…
seven years, two down with five to go
A five year filibuster should be child's play for the British Civil Service. :)
Manchester might end up emulating the Duke of Plaza Toro who always lagging at the rear was well placed to lead the retreat.
Straight out of the Sir Humphrey playbook
> We will work with NHS England colleagues to co-develop a roadmap that establishes the criteria for value-based adoption and identifies the point at which the FDP adoption is in the best interests of the GM population."
.
You do have to wonder why NHS England didn't simply take the Greater Manchester system and adopt it nationwide?
Maybe it was too "northern" for a London based decision making body?
Re: Straight out of the Sir Humphrey playbook
It was invented by NHS personnel. As far as the Conservatives were and are concerned government employees are a waste of space, compared to US companies and their lobbying and hospitality budgets plus advisory openings for cronies.
If it aint broke, don't fix it!
See title.
Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board has again put off its adoption of an NHS data platform prescribed by the UK government and run by Palantir until there is more evidence that it will be in the "best interests" of the city's population.’.
Madness I say, madness. Downing St, Streeting and Starmer would never countenace such a thing. Their sponsors might get annoyed.
Good! The Manchester system obviously works and is being actively used. NHS England should be championing that system rather than handing the keys to our nation's health data to a potential adversary.