NHS: Databases
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will a list of all external contractor personnel granted elevated or “administrative-level” access within the NHS Federated Data Platform, including (a) the supplier organisation; (b) the role or function of the individual; (c) the date such access was first granted; (d) the duration of access (including whether ongoing); (e) the nature and scope of administrative permissions held; and (f) whether such access has permitted interaction with identifiable patient data, whether directly or incidentally.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need it most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.
NHS England does not publish personal details on individual personnel, their roles, or specific access permissions to its data platforms.
There are currently three contractors with elevated administrative permissions within the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT) Platform and three contractors within the national instance of the NHS FDP with elevated administrative permissions. This total has been limited to three or four external contractors historically and all actions are logged and are auditable. The external contractors are provided under the NHS Federated Data Platform and Associated Services Contract by Palantir UK and are subject to Government security clearance and approval by a member of NHS England staff at Director level or above.
Robust safeguards are in place governing access to data within the NHS FDP and NDIT. Access by external supplier personnel is strictly controlled, is subject to contractual obligations and time-limited controls and is governed by NHS England security policies and United Kingdom data protection law.
Access to the platform for any user, including administrative access, is granted only where necessary for defined roles, is approved through formal processes, and is subject to monitoring and audit in line with NHS England standards.
Administrative-level access to NDIT is required to enable core back-office platform activities. This includes managing permissions and access, controlling platform-wide settings, overseeing security and governance, configuring the platform experience, and creating and managing roles, as well as providing high-level governance and oversight. External suppliers act strictly as data processors under contract and are not permitted to access or use data for any purpose other than those specified by NHS England. All users are required to access only the minimum data necessary for their role.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →