The New Dark Age

Thursday, 6 August 2026 — Foxglove

When NHS England wanted to show that Palantir’s £330m software was working, it picked two examples where it claimed to have made a big difference.

The first was Chelsea and Westminster, where 183,061 patients were said to have been cleared from the outpatient waiting list. Except the hospital’s actual waiting list has grown by around 20,000 since Palantir’s software arrived – and over the past year it has recorded one of the highest increases in the country.

The second was South Tyneside and Sunderland, showcased for a 37% cut in discharge delays. In late July the Health Foundation reported that it could not reproduce that figure at all. On the published data, delays there went up. Within six months of adopting the software, the trust had gone from one of the better performers in the country to one of the worst.

Email your MP about Palantir’s NHS claims – it takes two minutes: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/misleading-claims-about-palantir-nhs/

These aren’t failures cherry-picked by opponents of Palantir. They’re NHS England’s own chosen examples, which it tried to use to claim the software is a success.

The pattern holds across the board. Ministers told Parliament the software delivered more than 100,000 extra operations. Data Foxglove obtained under Freedom of Information requests shows a third of the hospitals using Palantir’s scheduling tool are doing fewer operations than before they started.

In June, after concerns were raised by Foxglove and the FT, NHS England quietly added small print to its website admitting that the data on the uptake and benefits page did not prove Palantir’s kit provided any benefit to the NHS. In its words, they can’t “draw conclusions about cause and effect as other variables have not been controlled for”. Its own chief executive admitted to MPs last month that he had raised challenges personally over the last year about whether NHS England’s assessments were objective and could be fully stood up if challenged.

Now, the government’s own statistics watchdog has warned NHS England that figures ministers cite about the platform must be communicated clearly and accurately, and that it will be monitoring them.

All this really matters now because Yvette Cooper has been Health Secretary for just over a fortnight and the decision on Palantir’s contract is on her desk. This is an important moment to make sure she’s not swayed by dodgy claims about the benefits of Palantir.

That’s where your MP comes in. MPs can press for the record to be corrected where discredited figures were given to Parliament, and they can raise Palantir directly with the new Health Secretary. We’ve written a briefing they can’t wave away, and drafted a message for you to send with it.

Enter your postcode, check the message over, and send it: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/misleading-claims-about-palantir-nhs/

One email won’t decide this. But emails from Foxglove supporters across the country, linking to a well-evidenced briefing, tells MPs this isn’t going away, and gives our allies in Parliament something to push with.

So please, email your MP now. Ask them to read our briefing. Ask them to demand the dodgy claims are corrected. And ask them to write to the new health secretary and urge her to trigger the break clause in Palantir’s contract.

Thank you,

Tom

Tom Hegarty, Head of Communications, Foxglove

P.S. Foxglove’s Freedom of Information work is what exposed these numbers in the first place. The FT and The Londoner investigated them, the Health Foundation has now tested them, and the statistics watchdog has stepped in. The break clause comes up in February 2027, and the decision is being made in the next few months. Email your MP now: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/misleading-claims-about-palantir-nhs/

MORE INFORMATION:

The Londoner, Palantir cleared 183,000 patients from one hospital’s waiting list. Or did it?: https://www.the-londoner.co.uk/palantir-waiting-list-nhs-chelsea-westminster-hospital/

The Health Foundation, Analysis of the relationship between adoption of OPTICA and delayed discharge from hospital: https://www.health.org.uk/media-office/news-about-the-Health-Foundation/analysis-of-the-relationship-between-adoption-of-optica-and-delayed-discharge-from-hospital

Foxglove, Our investigation shows a third of NHS trusts using Palantir’s FDP tools are seeing fewer operations than before they started using it: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2026/06/16/nhs-trusts-palantir-fdp-tools-fewer-operations/

Foxglove, How we revealed NHS England claims about Palantir’s FDP delivering benefit for the NHS are dubious, cherry-picked and should come with a serious health warning: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2026/06/17/nhs-england-palantir-delivering-benefit-nhs/

Office for Statistics Regulation, NHS England Federated Data Platform (FDP) – presentation and communication of information and performance metrics: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/nhs-england-federated-data-platform-fdp-presentation-and-communication-of-information-and-performance-metrics/

Health and Social Care Committee, Drop Palantir’s Federated Data Platform and look for alternative, MPs tell Health Minister: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/81/health-and-social-care-committee/news/214760/drop-palantirs-federated-data-platform-and-look-for-alternative-mps-tell-health-minister