An NHS trust did not comply with data protection legislation when it shared patient details with Google-owned DeepMind, a watchdog has ruled.
The Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust shared the details of 1.6 million patients with Google’s artificial intelligence company.
Following a year-long investigation, the UK’s Information Commission said that the hospital did not do enough to protect the privacy of patients.
Information from the trials was used to develop and refine an alert, diagnosis and detection system to spot patients at risk of developing acute kidney injury.
Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: “The price of innovation does not need to be the erosion of fundamental privacy rights.”
The trust has not been fined, but has signed an undertaking to make changes to the way it handles data.
This covers the legal basis for future trials, setting out how it will meet its duty of confidence to patients in future trials and assessing the impact the trial has had on privacy.
The trust said it has fully cooperated with the investigation and welcomed the guidance it has received on patient data and future trials.