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A survey of UK healthcare staff found workers are overwhelmingly uncomfortable at the prospect of Silicon Valley firms handling sensitive patient data.

YouGov, a major UK market research firm, surveyed 1,000 staff working at the UK’s state-funded NHS and in private healthcare.

Nearly half said they strongly disagreed with the idea of tech firms handling sensitive patient data, even if it was anonymized.

But a major tech firm, Google, already has agreements in place with the UK’s state-funded health system that involve data processing deals.

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Healthcare workers are pretty uncomfortable at the prospect of big tech firms analyzing patient data, a UK survey has found.

Market research firm YouGov surveyed more than 1,000 UK healthcare workers across the state-funded NHS and in private health about their attitudes to patient data and tech firms.

The NHS is one of the biggest employers on the planet with more than 1.3 million staff, and is accessed by almost all of the UK’s 66 million population at some point thanks to the fact it’s free at the point of use. Private firms accessing and potentially profiting from accessing patient data is a highly contentious issue.

One question in the survey – a PDF of which can be found here – posed this statement to respondents: „I would be comfortable with the analysis of anonymised NHS patient data being undertaken by a multinational ‚big tech‘ company which pays little tax in the UK.“

Respondents could indicate their varying levels of agreement or disagreement. Just 12% of respondents agreed with that statement, while the biggest proportion strongly disagreed at 49%.

Workers don’t seem to be totally against the idea of tech and patient data. Some 81% supported the analysis of anonymised data to enable quicker diagnosis and more effective treatment for patients.

Most respondents also disagreed with the statement that multinational ‚big tech‘ companies can be trusted to handle anonymised NHS patient data in a confidential manner.

The survey doesn’t name specific companies, but Google has live partnerships with state-funded healthcare providers in the UK.

The survey suggests it’s specifically big tech firm themselves that staff are uncomfortable with.

DeepMind Streams app DeepMind

In September, five NHS Trusts – which are essentially regional arms of the NHS – agreed to transfer their existing data processing deals with DeepMind to Google after DeepMind’s health division became part of Google in November last year. Just one NHS trust, Yeovil NHS Trust in the south-west of England, refused.

Google Health was created in 2018 as an attempt to consolidate Google’s various healthcare initiatives (not to be confused with the personal health record service also called Google Health which was discontinued in 2011).

The absorption of DeepMind’s healthcare unit was significant for Google, thanks to the unit’s ongoing research into the use of AI in healthcare. At the time it was absorbed by Google, DeepMind had various research projects underway such as the use of artificial intelligence to detect eye disease, and planning cancer radiotherapy treatment.

Google and the NHS did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.