NHS partners with Googles Deepmind

Mynight · 26 Feb 2016 at 00:16

http://arstechnica.co.uk/business/2...ng-with-nhs-to-develop-patient-care-software/

I'm rather intrigued and concerned by this at the same time. Unless I'm misreading this it appears a great life saving tool but will most likely require access to our patient records.

Guess I should have expected Google getting involved once the shared records was set up.

What's your opinion do you mind sharing your personal details with Google (ignoring what they say about not tying them to an account) in order to potentially prevent a deadly condition from developing?

Has anyone got anymore information on this?

thebennyboy · 26 Feb 2016 at 02:54

Anything that could improve patient care on the NHS can only be a good thing imo.

Should be given the option to opt-out of it though for those uncomfortable with Google having that info. They do mention that this data will only be stored in the UK which should keep it away from the NSA.

s452 · 26 Feb 2016 at 04:10

considering all the stuff people share on social media anyways, I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of what people's medical records can not be derived from people's social media accounts, and honestly if google's AI can offer treatment options to my doctor at my time of need, (especially options they've not considered themselves) I would want that

dcsarge · 26 Feb 2016 at 07:41

Goes to doctor with chronic headache, comes away with with prescription for Nexus 6 and Google glasses.

Nitefly · 26 Feb 2016 at 08:05

"DOCTOR!!!!"

""What's wrong?!?"

"I'm having a heart attack help me!!!"

"Ok ok - just sign in here"

".... I don't remember ... Huhmnnnn my google password... Hurrrrgg"

"That's ok Google have a two-step verification process"

"I left my phone at home - gnurrrrh!"

"Did you download any hard copy pass codes?!"

"No!!!!"

"Sorry sir but you are ******"

Aldav · 26 Feb 2016 at 08:50

Mynight said:
What's your opinion do you mind sharing your personal details with Google (ignoring what they say about not tying them to an account) in order to potentially prevent a deadly condition from developing?

Yes I do mind, and will object to my medical records being shared with Google for any purpose.

Raumarik · 26 Feb 2016 at 08:56

Aldav said:
Yes I do mind, and will object to my medical records being shared with Google for any purpose.

You may not even get a say in this unless NHS England (I don't work there) need to seek consent, which isn't always the case under the DPA. Heck they may not even notify you.

This is why it's best to get involved in the running of the local NHS or at least take a bit of interest in what's going on, no point having data sharing agreements, Caldicott guardians etc as those aren't much use once data is leaked.

Craig321 · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:14

What was that utopian world film where a single company basically owned and ran everything? :eek:

Puzzled · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:23

What concerns me is if this data found its way to insurance companies as you may find your policy is suddenly invalid or that you won't be able to get cover at all.

Cyanide · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:34

MonkeyMan said:
What concerns me is if this data found its way to insurance companies as you may find your policy is suddenly invalid or that you won't be able to get cover at all.

Surely you should have told them anyway if it's information that would render a policy invalid?

zophiel · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:35

How can a patient control the data once they have it then. What happens when they have a mistake and data is lost / leaked

"Patients need to be certain that all their health data is handled with the utmost care and respect, and that their privacy and security are protected at all times. We have, and will always, hold ourselves to the highest possible standards of patient data protection."

Glaucus · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:37

I don't get why people are against this. Data sharing happens all the time. Business could not work otherwise.
It however does not mean Google can use this data for it's own purposes.

Mynight · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:38

That is true. Despite limited information it could well be Google stepping into IBMs world and offering services rather than data mining. It all depends on the contract which we will never see. If data never leaves the UK it doesn't mean they can't reference the data from the UK.

Cyanide said:
Surely you should have told them anyway if it's information that would render a policy invalid?

Indeed. To be honest I would expect insurance groups to check records upon a claim anyway.

If they can find a way out they'll certainly use it.

ikillbears · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:41

thebennyboy said:
They do mention that this data will only be stored in the UK which should keep it away from the NSA.

lol

Mynight · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:43

ikillbears said:
lol

Wasn't sure if it was a joke or not :confused:

.

Raumarik · 26 Feb 2016 at 13:14

MonkeyMan said:
What concerns me is if this data found its way to insurance companies as you may find your policy is suddenly invalid or that you won't be able to get cover at all.

GPs already throw your information to insurance companies willy-nilly, granted there's a degree of control in how they do it and it allegedly requires your consent - but it still happens in an ever more automated way.

Skeeter · 26 Feb 2016 at 13:42

While this looks like using sensitive information, I can't see any ready why it would need to be personally identifiable?

dowie · 26 Feb 2016 at 14:06

that is a bit odd as it seems to have nothing to do with reinforcement learning at the moment, I'd have assumed it would be some other part of google/alphabet getting involved with this initially rather than DeepMind - but then maybe they're just getting their foot in the door with this as there are likely a lot of data related health problems they could probably help with. Could certainly see them also providing solutions for radiologists too - pattern recognition etc.. to assist with interpreting imaging.

Interestingly McLaren is also involved in healthcare via its technology arm - they've got plenty of expertise in analysing telemetry data from say F1 cars and are now using it to monitor intensive care patients:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-11/12/formula-1-technology-nhs-hospitals-2018

Rapid replaces an outdated system of manually monitoring vitals every one to four hours and plotting them on paper charts. It uses wireless sensors and data analytics -- originally developed by McLaren for Formula 1 car telemetry -- to provide real-time information about a patient's health.

It's connected to an alarm system designed by mathematicians at Aston University that alerts doctors and nurses if a patient's baseline levels deteriorate.

Destination · 26 Feb 2016 at 14:11

Craig321 said:
What was that utopian world film where a single company basically owned and ran everything?

Mr Robot

Evilcorp.

Craig321 · 26 Feb 2016 at 14:20

That's one of them, I was thinking of another though, just can't remember!