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DeepMind\u2019s inaugural data-sharing deal with the UK\u2019s National Health Service looks to be coming firmly unstuck.<\/p>\n
The partnership\u00a0attracted controversy last year<\/a>, when the scope of the behind-the-scenes data-sharing was revealed by a New Scientist<\/em> investigation.\u00a0The personally identifiable health data of some 1.6 million NHS patients was\u00a0used to develop\u00a0an app for the early detection of a kidney condition.<\/p>\n Now\u00a0the patient data safety advisory body to the UK government, the National Data Guadian (NDG), has weighed in with an opinion that there was \u2014 contrary to DeepMind\u2019s repeat insistence \u2014 no lawful basis for the\u00a0data transfer of 1.6 million patients\u2019 medical records to the Google-owned company during a development \/ piloting phase of the app.<\/p>\n The arrangement remains\u00a0under investigation by the UK\u2019s data protection watchdog<\/a>, the ICO.<\/p>\n Sky News has today obtained and published\u00a0(embedded in the below tweet) a letter sent by the NDG to the Royal Free NHS Trust and to DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. A spokeswoman for the NDG confirmed to TechCrunch\u00a0that the letter is authentic.<\/p>\n Full copies of National Data Guardian’s letter sent to @SkyNews<\/a> warning of legal basis re: @DeepMindAI<\/a> + 1.6 millio\u2026 twitter.com\/i\/web\/status\/8\u2026<\/a>\u2014 In the\u00a0letter, which was sent on\u00a0February 2017, Dame Fiona Caldicott, the NDG,\u00a0writes:<\/p>\n It is my view and that of my panel that the purpose for the transfer of 1.6 million identifiable patient records to Google DeepMind was for the testing of the Streams application, and not for the provision of direct care to patients. \u00a0Given that Streams was going through testing and therefore could not be relied upon for patient care, any role the application might have played in supporting the provision of direct care would have been limited and secondary to the purpose of the data transfer. My considered opinion therefore remains that it would not have been within the reasonable expectation of patients that their records would have been shared for this purpose.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n She\u00a0goes on to state that she is writing to the ICO to communicate her\u00a0advice to feed into its ingoing investigation of the data-sharing arrangement.<\/p>\n The NDG also provided us with the following statement regarding the letter:<\/p>\n The National Data Guardian for Health and Care, Dame Fiona Caldicott, and her panel of advisors have been considering how patient data was shared by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust with DeepMind under the \u2018Streams\u2019 project to improve the detection and management of acute kidney failure. In discussions with the ICO about this, the NDG agreed to provide advice on the use of implied consent for direct care as a legal basis for the sharing of data by the Royal Free with DeepMind. While the ICO investigation is ongoing the NDG will provide any further assistance to the ICO as required, but will not be commenting further on the matter at this point.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n During the development of the Streams app last year, DeepMind and the Royal Free consistently claimed patient consent was not needed to share their medical records for the Streams app project as the app\u00a0was being used for so-called \u2018direct patient care\u2019. Although during 2016 the app was never\u00a0actually being used for direct\u00a0care \u2014 it was merely being sporadically tested alongside normal\u00a0clinical practices.<\/p>\n Critics have also disputed their \u2018direct care\u2019\u00a0argument<\/a>\u00a0for the app \u2014 pointing out, for example, that not all the patients whose data is\u00a0being shared with DeepMind for Streams will\u00a0go on to develop Acute Kidney Injury, the condition the app is intended to detect. And therefore that some will\u00a0never be in a direct care relationship for this condition.<\/p>\n The NDG\u2019s assessment here is not weighing in on that wider point. But the letter does make it clear that in Caldicott\u2019s\u00a0view DeepMind and the Royal Free were not\u00a0justified in their use of live patient data during\u00a0the testing\/development phase of the\u00a0Streams app.<\/p>\n The\u00a0spokeswoman confirmed to us that the\u00a0scope of the review was limited to the appropriateness of implied consent for direct care \u201cas the legal basis when the data was shared\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the letter states, this was the legal basis that the Royal Free had confirmed that they had used. The NDG\u00a0has not considered or been asked to consider the appropriateness of any other legal bases,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n At the time of writing neither DeepMind nor the Royal Free NHS Trust had responded to our questions or request for comment.<\/p>\n But responding to\u00a0the NDG\u2019s letter in\u00a0a statement, health data privacy group medConfidential\u2019s coordinator, Phil Booth, told us:\u00a0\u201cThis letter shows that Google DeepMind must know it had to delete the 1.6 million patient medical records it should never have had in the first place. There were legitimate ways for DeepMind to develop the app they wanted to sell. Instead they broke the law, and then lied to the public about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the controversy around the data-sharing arrangement underpinning Streams, DeepMind and its\u00a0partner NHS Trust for this deal, the Royal Free, pushed ahead deploying\u00a0the app in several London hospitals earlier this year \u2014 but only after\u00a0inking a new data-sharing deal last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n That second data-sharing arrangement is not currently being reviewed by the NDG, according to the spokeswoman.<\/p>\n At the time of writing the ICO could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
Alexander J. Martin (@lexanderjmartin) May 15, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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DeepMind’s inaugural data-sharing deal with the UK’s National Health Service looks to be coming firmly unstuck. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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