£480m data system ‘critical for NHS’s future’, says new NHSE transformation director

Vin Diwakar, who took over the role on an interim basis this month following the departure of Tim Ferris, was speaking at the HETT conference in London on Tuesday, his first public engagement since taking over the role.

NHS England is expected to announce the preferred bidder for the £480m data project contract shortly. HSJ has previously reported that US firm Palantir, and a consortium involving IBM and UK-based Quantexa, are thought to be the two main frontrunners.

However, campaigners and politicians have raised concerns about data protection and privacy, particularly over the involvement of Palantir, and the National Data Guardian has said NHSE has not been transparent enough about its decision-making process for the procurement. The government’s national data advisory group warned there may be a rise in patients opting out of data sharing due to the scheme.

Speaking at HETT, Dr Diwakar called on critics to “remember the transformational impact it will have for patients and staff”.

He said: “[The FDP] will transform the way that we use data to improve the experience of patients and the experience of staff within the NHS, reducing the administrative burden and making it easier to do their job.”

Addressing concerns about the platform and how it is being procured, Dr Diwakar said: “The federated data platform does remain under the full control of the NHS. The eventual supplier will not control the data. Each [integrated care board] and trust will have access to their own source of the data.

“We’ll be engaging with the public, with public deliberation, there’ll be public advisory groups, so that the public have confidence in what we’re doing. We’ve run an independent procurement exercise for the NHS, by the NHS. Over 30 or 40 different people assessed the bids independently so there’s no one person who has made the decision, and all use cases will be carefully governed.”

Dr Diwakar, a paediatrician by background and medical director of several trusts, was NHS London’s regional medical director during the pandemic, and last year became a national medical director for secondary care and transformation.

He said his “big message” was warning people to “not make [the FDP] into something that it isn’t”.

NHSE has previously said it would announce the preferred bidder for the federated data platform contract by the end of September.