News » Google received 1.6 million NHS patients' data on an 'inappropriate legal basis' 2017-05-15

Google's artificial intelligence arm received the personally identifying medical records of 1.6 million patients on an "inappropriate legal basis", according to the most senior data protection adviser to the NHS.

 

Sky News has obtained a letter sent to Professor Stephen Powis, the medical director of the Royal Free Hospital in London, which provided the patients' records to Google DeepMind.

 

It reveals that the UK's most respected authority on the protection of NHS patients' data believes the legal basis for the transfer of information from Royal Free to DeepMind was "inappropriate".

 

The development raises fresh concerns about how the NHS handles patients' data after last week's cyberattack on hospitals and GP surgeries, which could have been prevented if staff had followed guidance issued a month earlier.

 

While there are strict legal protections ensuring the confidentiality of patients' records, under common law patients are "implied" to have consented to their information being shared if it was shared for the purpose of "direct care".

 

Article taken from the Sky News Click to read full article and link opens in a new window