Single patient record to have ‘no single dominating supplier’

No single tech company will be sole supplier for the planned NHS single patient record (SPR), the Government has said.

The Department of Health and Social Care instead said it ‘will be delivered through contracts with multiple suppliers with no single supplier dominating’. 

The statement, contained within a newly-published fact sheet, comes amid GP leader concerns around US tech giant Palantir’s NHS involvement.

It said the SPR would aim to connect with ‘existing systems’, though does not explicitly mention the Palantir-owned federated data platform (FDP).

Palantir, a data analytics company known for its work with US intelligence and security agencies, was awarded a £330m, seven-year contract in 2023 to deliver the FDP. 

The document said: ‘The single patient record will be delivered through contracts with multiple suppliers with no single supplier dominating. No decisions have been made about who these will be.

‘The single patient record will, wherever possible, build on and connect with existing health and care source systems, such as electronic patient records and shared care records, rather than replacing them’, it said.

The document also said the SPR was being developed with ‘tiered, role-based access, giving professionals only the information they need’ with the ‘highest levels of security’ and ‘strong governance’. 

Separate NHS England guidance on the record states three suppliers – InterSystems, Interweave, and Orion – were involved in its ‘test and learn’ phase. 

But it clarified that their involvement does not ‘give them an advantage’ in future negotiations over the single patient record, and that ‘suppliers not involved in this phase’ such as Palantir would ‘not be disadvantaged from taking part in any future procurement’. 

The single patient record will include primary, secondary and social care data. Data will include diagnoses, physiological data (such as blood pressure and heart rate), medical imaging, prescriptions and medications, key primary and secondary care NHS interactions.  

The Government has said clinicians in England will have ‘improved access’ to records for 80% of patients by March 2027, and from 2028, all patients will access a ‘core set of their data’ through the single patient record, viewable through the NHS App. 

Plans for the record’s creation are laid out in the Health Bill, which was announced last week. GP leaders and data experts have warned that the bill gives the Government sweeping authority to share confidential patient data with third parties and the ability to sanction patient data holders – such as GPs – for not complying. 

Palantir’s involvement in the NHS via the FDP has drawn criticism from the BMA, which last year passed a motion at its annual representative meeting (ARM) urging the NHS to cut ties with the company – calling it ‘an unacceptable choice of partner’ to handle patient data. Palantir responded to this criticism by accusing the union of putting ‘ideology over patient interest’.  

And an ICB has claimed GPs in its area are ‘not confident’ nor ‘comfortable’ giving patient data to the FDP due to privacy issues, while an NHS trust information lead also suggested ‘politics’ was preventing engagement with the company’s software.

Pulse has asked Palantir about its involvement in the single patient record as a supplier.