Palantir is working with "AI upskilling platform" Multiverse to provide an apprenticeship program specific to its Federated Data Platform (FDP), the NHS analytics system being run under a controversial contract.
In a statement, the companies said their agreement would help NHS staff use the FDP to support operations, improve care, drive up efficiency, and drive down waiting lists. They said the apprenticeship program would launch in February 2026 with a curriculum tailored to NHS roles including analysts, administrators, managers, and clinical staff.
Louis Mosley, Palantir executive vice president for UK and Europe, stated: "The NHS FDP is already improving care for patients while cutting paperwork for doctors and nurses. Now we need to double down to keep driving up the number of NHS staff who are trained on the technology – and this partnership will be central to that."
However, critics have pointed to the circumstances under which Palantir – founded with cash from the CIA-backed investment fund In-Q-Tel – was awarded the £330 million contract to run the FDP.
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson and his chief adviser Dominic Cummings met with Peter Thiel, co-founder and chairman of Palantir, in 2019, months before the company landed a key role in the UK's COVID-19 response, according to a Guardian report earlier this year.
The meeting, which was kept from the official record, took place on August 28, 2019, months before the UK government began forming its response to the pandemic, which would see Palantir awarded £60 million in contracts without competition, starting with a contract awarded for just £1.
Earlier this year, campaign group Corporate Watch reported that some local NHS trusts and bodies are refusing to comply with the rollout of the FDP, describing Palantir's technology as a step backward on existing systems. It found that only 34 trusts (just under 15 percent) were actively using the platform and its products.
In May, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB) decided not to adopt the national data platform until it has more evidence of the benefits and risks.
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 FDP will realise benefit 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. ®
Source: The register