UK gave Google’s DeepMind access to patient data without legal basis

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Google's DeepMind AI wing was given access to the personal medical records of 1.6 million NHS patients on an "inappropriate legal basis," the UK's top data protection adviser to the health service has said.

In a letter sent to the Royal Free Hospital's medical director professor Stephen Powis, and seen by Sky News, the National Data Guardian Dame Fiona Caldicott-whose job it is to scrutinise the government when it hands over NHS patient records to private companies-concluded that the decision to share the data under implied consent was wrong.

The London-based Royal Free Hospital (RFH) inked a controversial deal with Google last year, allowing its Streams AI app to be tested on the medical records of sufferers of acute kidney damage. It apparently helps clinicians to quickly administer potentially life-saving treatment.

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