Royal Free NHS Trust & Google DeepMind

Information Commissioner's Office did not have the information requested.

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

I would like to make a request under the FOI Act.

For the purposes of the Act, please take the date of your receipt of this request as Tuesday 3rd May 2016.

I note with interest two articles in the press this week:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/208...
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news...

Both of these refer to a data sharing agreement between Google-owned artificial intelligence company DeepMind and the Royal Free NHS Trust, and which gives DeepMind access to a wide range of healthcare data on the 1.6 million patients who pass through three London hospitals run by the Royal Free NHS Trust – Barnet, Chase Farm and the Royal Free – each year, as well as access to patient data from the last five years (via SUS).

The Royal Free Hospital will remain the official data controller in this instance.

I would be very grateful for the following information.

• Please could you provide me with all communication that the Royal Free NHS Trust has had with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) regarding this agreement, which may include, for example, advice about the legality of such an arrangement, requirements for fair processing information, and the rights and processes by which patients of those hospitals can object to the processing of their personal confidential data by DeepMind, for both primary and/or secondary purposes, and how patients might go about requesting complete erasure of any such data about them held by DeepMind

I look forward to the information requested.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Neil Bhatia

AccessICOinformation, Information Commissioner's Office

Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office. We confirm
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Yours sincerely

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

 

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Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

References

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Information Commissioner's Office

24 May 2016

 

Case Reference Number IRQ0627338

 

Dear Dr Bhatia

Request for Information
 

Thank you for your correspondence dated 30 April 2016, in which you have
asked "Please could you provide me with all communication that the Royal
Free NHS Trust has had with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
regarding this agreement, which may include, for example, advice about the
legality of such an arrangement, requirements for fair processing
information, and the rights and processes by which patients of those
hospitals can object to the processing of their personal confidential data
by DeepMind, for both primary and/or secondary purposes, and how patients
might go about requesting complete erasure of any such data about them
held by DeepMind."
 

We have considered your request in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, following a search of our paper
and electronic records we have established that the information you asked
for is not held by the ICO.

Review Procedure

If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to request a review of
our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled
you should write to the Information Access Team at the address below or
e-mail [1][ICO request email].
 
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response.  Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
 
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request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation.  To make such an application, please write
to our Customer Contact Team at the address given or visit our website if
you wish to make a complaint under either the Freedom of Information Act
or Environmental Information Regulations.
 
A copy of our review procedure can be accessed from our website
[2]here.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Ashley Duffy
Information Access Service Manager
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF
T. 01625 545625  F. 01625 524510  [3]ico.org.uk  [4]twitter.com/iconews
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Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[ICO request email]
2. https://ico.org.uk/media/about-the-ico/d...
3. http://ico.org.uk/
4. https://twitter.com/iconews

Dr Neil Bhatia left an annotation ()

More information about NHS data sharing, including:

• care.data
• The Summary Care Record,
• The Hampshire Health Record
• The Berkshire Health Record (Connected Care)
• The Manchester Care Record
• The Stockport Health and Care Record
• The Salford Integrated Record
• The West Cheshire Care Record
• The North Staffs and Stoke-on-Trent Shared Record
• The Dorset Care Record
• Secondary uses of your information
• Local data streaming initiatives
• The HSCIC
• Google DeepMind & the Royal Free NHSFT

can be found at:

www.nhsdatasharing.info