Patient data from GP surgeries is being added to the NHS's Palantir-built data platform in a significant expansion beyond its current use in hospitals. NHS Cheshire and Merseyside has overseen the sharing of patient data from five local GP practices into its version of the Federated Data Platform (FDP), according to an internal NHS briefing note.

The FDP is highly controversial because it is being built by Palantir, a US technology company with ties to the US defence sector. When the £330mn FDP contract was awarded, a ministerial statement noted that "no new data will be collected, and GP data will not be part of the national platform".

However, officials insisted the development related only to a local system and not the national platform. NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said the pilot aims to assess the value of insights from general practice data within the Strategic Commissioning Tool on the NHS Federated Data Platform, supporting population health management.

An internal NHS note called the pilot a "significant milestone for the FDP", adding that "the value of linking primary care data to the national commissioning datasets was recognised early on". Palantir is facing growing scrutiny as MPs on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee have called its presence in the UK public sector an "unacceptable point of weakness" and urged ministers to trigger the 2027 break clause in its £330mn NHS contract.