Organisational attendees

• British Medical Association
• Department of Health and Social Care
• FDP Programme Team (NHS England)
• Healthwatch England
• Information Commissioner’s Office
• National Voices
• NHS Confederation
• NHS England
• Office of the National Data Guardian
• Patient Public Voices
• SPR Programme Team (NHS England)
• The NHS Alliance
• Understanding Patient Data
• The Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network

Apologies received

• Association of Medical Research Charities
• East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Nottingham University Hospitals
• Royal College of General Practitioners
• Royal College of Surgeons

Meeting minutes: Welcome and introductions

The Chair, Jacob Lant, opened the meeting.

Apologies were noted.

Minutes from the previous meeting

The group reviewed the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 13 April 2026.

Positive feedback was received on the minutes. However, it was noted that additional clarity would be beneficial regarding the role of clear and consistent DHSC communications in supporting stakeholder confidence and public trust.

It was also suggested that the minutes better reflect concerns that perceptions of the supplier may influence organisational engagement.

In addition, a point was raised regarding the attribution of comments to named individuals, with a preference expressed for more anonymised wording where appropriate.

The Chair and NHS FDP team agreed to update the minutes to reflect the discussion and circulate a revised version to the group for final review and approval.

Action log

The group reviewed the action log and noted that the majority of actions were either completed or progressing as planned.

NHS FDP and Privacy Enhancing Technology Programme update

The director of data management and transformation provided an update on key activity to date across the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) and the wider NHS England digital portfolio, outlining progress, current priorities and forthcoming milestones.

It was reported that the NHS FDP team had won 2 health tech awards for their work in data transformation and a successful Northern FDP Build event had been held, where NHS engineers developed prototype solutions for patient care challenges.

The director of data management and transformation advised the group of an error identified within the published data protection impact assessment (DPIA) relating to the description of supplier administrative access arrangements.

It was clarified that supplier access to the national data integration tenant (NDIT), including by Palantir where required, is highly restricted and limited to a small number of authorised individuals for operational maintenance, technical support and system recovery purposes only.

The group noted that access is governed through contractual arrangements and NHS England oversight, with safeguards including audit logging, active monitoring, regular access reviews, time-bound permissions, and established onboarding and offboarding processes.

It was emphasised that supplier access is not broad or unrestricted and reflects standard practice for large scale technology platforms requiring technical support.

In relation to the DPIA error, the group made the following comments:

• Members discussed the importance of ensuring the DPIA accurately reflects the controlled supplier access arrangements to maintain transparency and public confidence.
• The NHS FDP Programme team confirmed that the DPIA was under review and would be updated to provide greater clarity regarding supplier administrative access arrangements.
• The group discussed the importance of clarity around terminology for public reassurance. This included what is meant by supervision and acting under instruction, particularly where access may occur remotely.
• In response to queries regarding the NHS FDP’s technical architecture and the role of pseudonymisation, including whether data is pseudonymised before or after supplier access, the NHS FDP Programme team clarified that the NHS FDP supports both identifiable and de-identified environments depending on the operational use case, and that pseudonymisation is applied where appropriate. The group further noted that identifiable data enters the platform for operational reasons, with IQVIA’s privacy-enhancing technology removing identifiers before data moves to the national tenant.
• The group advised that the existing DPIA and associated public facing materials were not felt to sufficiently explain the detail of supplier administration access arrangements. Members requested clearer FAQs and more detailed explanations of when and why access may occur. The NHS FDP Programme team confirmed that FAQs and related materials were being reviewed and updated accordingly.

Action: Review and update the NHS England frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the website to include detailed information about administrative access controls, audit frequency for supplier and NHS staff.

Action: Review and update the DPIA.

NHS FDP communications and engagement update

The NHS FDP senior lead communications and engagement manager noted increased communications and engagement activity in response to recent media attention and associated public, stakeholder and parliamentary interest in the NHS FDP programme.

An update was provided on ongoing support to local trusts, continued development of communications toolkits and regional engagement plans, and wider stakeholder engagement activity to support consistent and transparent messaging.

The group also noted the development of new engagement materials, including case studies and explainer assets.

NHS FDP usage and deployment deep dive

The NHS FDP deputy director of demand and delivery presented a deep dive on the scale and geographic distribution of NHS FDP deployments across regions, including variations in deployment maturity and product uptake.

It was noted that acute trusts were generally more advanced in delivery, with mental health and community deployments continuing to progress.

The Chair queried the comparatively lower levels of uptake observed across the North West and Yorkshire regions.

In response, it was noted that this partly reflected differing regional delivery strategies, including a more targeted and strategic approach within the North West.

It was also noted that, consistent with the national picture, deployment across mental health and community settings remains at an earlier stage of maturity compared to acute trusts, with these sectors representing a key area of future focus for the programme.

The group noted ongoing work to improve the publication of deployment, adoption and benefits data to support greater transparency and understanding of the NHS FDP rollout.

Single Patient Record (SPR) update

The group received an update on progress across the SPR programme, including recent business case approval, ongoing delivery planning, procurement preparation and technical architecture development.

Members discussed the anticipated implications of the forthcoming bill and raised questions regarding programme communications, public engagement and legal interpretation.

The group explored the scale of communications and engagement activity underway in preparation for the bill, including stakeholder briefings, public facing materials, FAQs and sentiment monitoring.

Members emphasised the importance of clear, accessible and consistent messaging, particularly in relation to public understanding, trust and digital inclusion.

Questions were raised regarding how information would be communicated to underrepresented and digitally excluded groups, and whether sufficient public awareness activity was planned.

Healthwatch and National Voices offered support to help broaden outreach and engagement activity, including through webinars and stakeholder networks.

Members also sought clarification on the legal and policy implications of the bill, particularly regarding the common law duty of confidentiality and the distinction between direct care and secondary uses of data.

It was clarified that the proposed provisions relate to direct care only and do not create new legal gateways for secondary uses, which would continue to require existing legal permissions and safeguards.

The discussion also highlighted the importance of maintaining public trust and ensuring communications were supported by trusted clinical voices and community partners.

The SPR Programme team confirmed that further detailed engagement and communications plans would be brought back to a future meeting for further discussion and review.

Action: SPR Programme team to present the current position on engagement with under-represented and digitally excluded groups, including planned outreach activity.

NHS FDP Q3 benefits

The group received the latest quarterly update on NHS FDP benefits, including progress in product deployment, patient-facing outcomes and operational improvements across participating organisations.

The update highlighted continued expansion of the programme across trusts and products, alongside reported improvements relating to inpatient treatment activity, discharge management, cancer pathways and analytical capabilities supporting integrated care board (ICB) decision-making.

Members discussed the range of operational and patient benefits being reported, including waiting list validation activity, referral to treatment (RTT) pathway management and the impact of products such as OPTICA and Cancer 360.

The group also discussed increasing interest in more granular and trust level benefits data, with the NHS FDP Programme team noting ongoing consideration of how more detailed information could be published in future to support transparency and local accountability.

Any other business and close

Due to time constraints, it was agreed that the AI agenda item would be deferred to the next meeting.

The Chair advised the group that the next Data Transformation Check and Challenge meeting will be held on Friday 19 June 2026.