Googles DeepMind rolls out its Streams app to Taunton & Somerset

DeepMindGoogle’s AI company DeepMind has partnered with its first hospital outside of London, the Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s Musgrove Park Hospital, to roll out its controversial Streams app at the health service location.

The app, which is designed to help clinical teams identify at risk patients and treat them as quickly as possible, has previously been rolled out to the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust – the latter of which has caused controversy.

This controversy related to DeepMind receiving 1.6m NHS patient records from the Royal Free on an ‘inappropriate legal basis’. The records were obtained without the knowledge of the patients and failed to follow guidelines regarding implied consent. This is apparent breach is currently being investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Despite this, DeepMind has happily dived into another partnership, and will continue to use its app to help doctors and nurses save hours – and, in turn, more lives.

“The Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is well known for its pioneering approach to healthcare technology, so it’s incredibly exciting to be working with the outstanding clinical team there, on the shared goal of improving outcomes for patients,” said Dr Dominic King, clinical lead at DeepMind Health.