Controversy sparked in November 2023 when NHS England awarded a £330 million contract for the FDP to US spy tech company Palantir
NHS England has awarded an £8.5 million contract to consultancy firm KPMG “for technical support and implementation services” to help Integrated Care Boards (ICB) and NHS trusts in England to implement the Federated Data Platform (FDP) software.
According to the contract details published on Friday 12 April, KPMG “will support the NHSE Data Services team to not only build the Federated Data Platform (FDP) capability, but enhance the Data Service functions, platforms and integrating services to support the transformation change.”
During the contract, which will extend until 17 March 2026, Additionally, the consultancy firm will assist ICBs and trusts in implementing their individual federated platforms, which will in turn feed into the national model.
NHSE ignited controversy in November 2023 when it granted a £330 million FDP contract to the US spy tech company Palantir, with concerns raised regarding the opaque nature of the tender process and the security of patient medical records.
On 22 December, NHS England published a heavily redacted version of its 586-page contract with Palantir to operate the platform.
After facing legal action from the Good Law Project, NHSE announced in March that it would republish its patient data contracts with Palantir with reduced redactions.
The legal campaign group also challenged NHS England over the extensive redactions in its contract with the bio-tech company IQVIA, which was awarded a £28m deal to provide “privacy enhancing technology” for the platform.
The Federated Data Platform software will enable NHS organisations to bring together operational data currently stored in separate systems, such as the number of beds in a hospital, the size of waiting lists for elective care services, or the availability of medical supplies, to support staff to access the information they need in one safe and secure environment.
NHSE has said that the FDP “will make it easier for staff at NHS trusts and integrated care boards (on behalf of integrated care systems (ICS) to access the information they need, freeing up valuable time to reinvest in delivering the best care possible for patients.”
“In the future, it will also enable Trusts and ICSs to make better use of the information they hold, supporting them to work together to understand patterns, solve problems, and plan services for their local populations,” it said.
As announced by the health service earlier, the implementation of the FDP will occur in stages spanning the next three years, beginning the transition phase from March to July 2024, followed by the delivery phase from May 2024 to March 2027. Once the transition phase proves successful, it will be gradually rolled out to new trusts and ICBs.
