Palantir faces growing backlash over hospital AI and NHS data expansion

Palantir Technologies ↗ 3.48% is facing a wave of opposition on both sides of the Atlantic as nurses, patients, and lawmakers push back against the company's expanding footprint in healthcare, from AI-driven staffing tools in American hospitals to a quiet expansion of patient data collection in England's general practices.

Nurses Sound Alarm Over U.S. Hospital Staffing Tools

In the United States, the National Nurses United union has led protests across eight cities demanding that hospitals "immediately cut ties" with Palantir, whose software now manages roughly one-fifth of U.S. hospital beds, according to company executives. At issue is Timpani, an AI scheduling system developed for HCA Healthcare ↘ 2.46%, the country's largest for-profit hospital chain. Timpani launched in 2023 and expanded to 76 HCA facilities in 2025.healthcareitnews+3

Nurses say the software overrides clinical judgment and stretches already thin staffing. "The whole goal of Palantir infiltrating the hospitals is to once again make nurses do more with less, and that creates unsafe environments," one nurse said in a video posted by More Perfect Union on September 14. Critics argue that algorithm-based scheduling ignores nurses' experience and established work patterns, with one nurse reporting she was assigned erratic shifts after the system replaced her regular schedule.thecooldown

UK Opposition Grows on Multiple Fronts

In England, more than 1,700 patients and hospital workers signed a petition urging south London's two largest NHS trusts to reject Palantir's Federated Data Platform. Separately, GP practices sharing patient data with an Integrated Care Board population management tool have asked to withdraw because of its links to Palantir.brixtonbuzz+1

The FDP, awarded to a Palantir-led consortium in a £330 million contract in 2023, has now expanded beyond hospitals into general practice. Patient data from five GP surgeries in Cheshire and Merseyside is being fed into the platform, a move an internal NHS note called a "significant milestone," according to the Financial Times. This appears to contradict assurances given by the previous Conservative government that "GP data will not be part of the national platform".cityam+1

Political Pressure and Patient Opt-Outs Mount

Health innovation minister James Frith acknowledged in a letter to parliament that he was "concerned about mistrust of Palantir" and its effect on willingness to share data with the NHS. Some 60,000 people opted out of data sharing between mid-May and mid-July. The government has also revised the FDP's projected whole-life cost upward to £1.1 billion while cutting forecast benefits to £808 million.bmj+2

"Listen to your nurses, listen to your doctors," one speaker urged at a U.S. protest. "They're the ones that are actually meeting with the patients, and ultimately they are the ones that should be making these decisions, not AI".thecooldown