The Canonical Data Model, the FDP, and the NHS.
The NHS “owns” the Canonical Data Model (CDM), the interface to the Federated Data Platform that all existing systems are to integrate with and that new systems should build on. This is what the CDM interface looks like today.
It’s good that we own the CDM. But this is autogenerated from Palantir tooling. A key plank of the “we’re not getting locked in” is that another provider could implement this interface. It’s technically true, but what does it really mean to “own” a custom interface to proprietary platform?
We’re on pay-as-you-go access to Foundry. Each trust gets access to it’s own isolated cloud env. A data collection agent runs inside the trust and copies data to their Foundry account. The data transforms and dashboards that we build in there are only available as long we keep paying the bill.
The project could well fail like many before it thanks to the quiet resistance of staff who reject it. Or it succeeds and creates a difficult to unpick dependency and a new monopoly provider of access to NHS information. Much of the value of this massive integration work will accrue in Foundry, and it will be hard to move it to a competitor.
We can assume that it provides some appealing tooling for the price tag. Can we get some of the benefit and push back on the lock in? What are our options?
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Build and open implementation of the CDM API?
It’s unattractive but we need provide an alternative target to write to, and have place to iterate on that API. -
Capture work done in Foundry in portable formats where possible?
E.g. use PySpark and SQL where you can. This will remove some of the benefits of the tooling, and for no-code pipeline and dashboard builders is likely not be possible, but it’s worth defining the features that create more lock in. -
Burn it all? Build one to throw away? Is this just a test run to figure out what we really need?
What do you think? We need some work here fast.
Scotland is building their own National Digital Platform and building on OpenEHR which looks much more appealing as a strategy from where we are.
Original thread on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/oli.zilla.org.uk/post/3m6zfgerb3k2i
Sources
Dunscombe, R. (2025). Maximising the impact of the NHS Federated Data Platform. Public Policy Project. https://publicpolicyprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PPP_DDT-RT2-Report_06_25.pdf
NHS England » Contract explainer. Retrieved 5 December 2025, from https://www.england.nhs.uk/digitaltechnology/nhs-federated-data-platform/security-privacy/contract-explainer/
Federated Data Platform and Associated Services—Contracts Finder. (n.d.). Retrieved 5 December 2025, from https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0f8a65b5-23a2-4294-abb1-a7fd8efb3ad0
GS1 UK (Director). (2025, June 4). Ming Tang | Defining the technology strategy for a digital first health system [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-moLtLdLJA
Kerasidou, A., & Kerasidou, C. (Xaroula). (2023). Data-driven research and healthcare: Public trust, data governance and the NHS. BMC Medical Ethics, 24(1), 51. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-023-00922-z
Lovell, T. (2025, May 19). NHSE quizzed on the link between single patient record and FDP. Digital Health. https://www.digitalhealth.net/2025/05/nhse-quizzed-on-the-link-between-single-patient-record-and-fdp/
Moss, B. (2025, February 26). Chief Data and Analytical Officer Network position on the Federated Data Platform (FDP). AphA - Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts. https://www.aphanalysts.org/cdao-network-news/chief-data-and-analytical-officer-network-position-on-the-federated-data-platform-fdp/
Palantir Foundry. (n.d.). Palantir. Retrieved 2 December 2025, from https://www.palantir.com/platforms/foundry/