Patient data were shared with Google on an “inappropriate legal basis,” says NHS data guardian

The Department of Health for England’s most senior adviser on data protection has criticised the NHS for a deal it signed to share patient records with Google’s DeepMind program.

In a letter, obtained by Sky News, Fiona Caldicott, national data guardian, expressed the view that DeepMind had received 1.6 million patient records on an “inappropriate legal basis.”1

The data were collected from patients at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust to test a new app designed to detect and rapidly inform doctors and nurses of patients who may be at risk of acute kidney disease.

Google DeepMind …