Google’s DeepMind subsidiary and the U.K. National Health Service have signed an agreement that would allow DeepMind to gain access to healthcare information of approximately 1.6 million patients of three Royal Free NHS Trust-run hospitals in London, New Scientist reported Friday.
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However, because the NHS does not keep a separate data set for those with kidney disease, it has instead handed over all its records for the hospitals concerned.
Ross Anderson from the University of Cambridge, who taught one of DeepMind’s co-founders, is less anxious about Google’s access to data, or potential profit from using the research.
“This is not just about kidney function”.
The trust says the data will remain encrypted, meaning that Google employees should not be able to identify anyone, according to the Royal Free Trust. They’re getting the full data, ‘ said Sam Smith of health data privacy group MedConfidential to New Scientist.
The Royal Free London said: “With all information sharing agreements with non-NHS organisations, patients can opt out of any data-sharing system that the Royal Free London uses by contacting the trust’s data protection officer”. We shouldn’t be automatically afraid of that.
HOSPITAL plans to share confidential patient records with Google have been described as “violating”.
“All too often we see data being shared without the informed consent or proper understanding of those it will actually affect”.
While Google’s period of access to the data is limited, such access is invaluable for training machine learning technologies of the kind developed by DeepMind.
‘Without this transparency, there is a risk that public confidence and trust will be damaged’.
Cluley said that, although Google probably could do some extraordinary work in analysing vast amounts of medical records in an attempt to provide better treatment for those who need it, it remains an advertising company that is ever-eager to gather as much personal information about people’s lives, habits, relationships and health because of the huge opportunities for monetisation.
Google says that it is now doing its pilot work with the Royal Free for free and has no commercial plans for its work with the Trust.
In addition, DeepMind’s access to the centralised records of all NHS hospital treatments in the United Kingdom means the tech company can access historical data from the last five years, all while receiving a continuous stream of new data.
In an exclusive report, New Scientist uncovered the terms of the agreement, which presents a myriad of privacy concerns, including whether patients can fully opt out.
“This work focuses on acute kidney injuries that contribute to 40,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, many of which are preventable”, King said.
‘The kidney specialists who have led this work are confident that the alerts our system generates will transform outcomes for their patients.
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New Scientist wrote an opinion piece on Wednesday arguing that patients should be informed if their private medical company is about to be shared with a company like Google.
