NHS partnership with DeepMind puts Google AI in charge of sharing patient data

Google is no stranger to working with user data, but its latest partnership with the National Health Service sees the company entering unchartered waters. Having already been granted access to the records of more than 1.6 million patients in London, Google's DeepMind will be used by the NHS to alert medical staff to the condition of people under their care.

Given Google's track record of using data gathered from its users as part of its ad business, there are understandable concerns from privacy groups about the company's involvement. But data shared with DeepMind will not make its way to Google itself, and will also be encrypted as an extra level of security. But is artificial intelligence really the future of medicine?

There is a five-year agreement in place between DeepMind and Barnet, Chase Farm and Royal Free Hospitals. The primary aim of the partnership is to help reduce paperwork, giving medical staff more time to concentrate on administering medical care.

The first stage of the program will see information about patients with kidney problems shared with clinicians using an app called Streams. If the initial trial proves successful or valuable, the program will be expanded to include other conditions and could spread to other hospitals. The real benefit for doctors is being able to access patient records far more quickly than before. Chief executive of the Royal Free London, David Sloman, says:

Doctors and nurses currently spend far too much time on paperwork, and we believe this technology could substantially reduce this burden, enabling doctors and nurses to spend more time on what they do best -- treating patients.

Patients are able to opt out of data sharing, but there are still concerns that Google is being granted access to years' worth of patient data. By the admission of DeepMind's co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, the company will need to find a way to make money from this, and fears surround how this could happen: "In order to scale up, we'll need to build a sustainable business model around that kind of software, and that's what we'll be looking to do".

It's clear that there needs to be a careful balance between employing technology that helps to accelerate patient care, with ensuring that the privacy of individuals is maintained, and that patients' health is neither placed at risk nor exploited. This is something recognized by the president of the College of Physicians, Professor Jane Dacre:

It is encouraging to see the NHS harnessing technology to make a difference at the bedside and the clear focus on delivering real differences to patients' lives and health. Whenever we develop new ways of using patient data, it is essential that safeguards are in place for appropriateness and confidentiality, but with these we should embrace the opportunity to improve healthcare quality and reduce the burdens of bureaucracy on clinicians so they can focus on their patients.

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