The NHS is granting Palantir contractors and other external staff broad 'unlimited access' to identifiable patient data while they build a new data platform called the Federated Data Integration Tenant. This arrangement has triggered concerns from MPs and privacy advocates about whether safeguards are adequate for protecting sensitive health information. The access grants appear to be part of a larger NHS modernization effort, but internal NHS briefings acknowledged the 'considerable public interest and concern' about the scope of external contractor access to patient records.