DeepMind Health is a healthcare technology company that promises to improve the service of patients, nurses, and doctors in the UK. Here’s everything you need to know about DeepMind Health.
What is DeepMind Health?
The UK’s National Health System (NHS) is world-famous for its ability to efficiently provide healthcare to a country of 65+ million people. However, the NHS, like most national healthcare systems, is far from perfect. That’s why DeepMind Health wants to help.
DeepMind Health works with hospitals to create mobile tools based on AI research. These mobile tools promise to provide clinicians with more accurate analysis, which ultimately means faster treatments for the patients who need it most.
DeepMind Health is best-known for apps like Stream, which is currently in use at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. That app uses mobile technology to send immediate alerts to clinicians when a patient deteriorates.
According to the official DeepMind Health website, nurses have reported that the platform “is saving them over two hours each day”, which means they’re better able to spend time with those in need.
The company, like many other healthcare technology companies, puts a strong emphasis on securing patient data. Patient data always remains under the full control and direction of the hospital and healthcare partners. Data is stored securely and encrypted to the highest standards. That data is never connected to Google accounts or services, or used for any commercial purposes like advertising or insurance.
DeepMind Health is a division of British artificial intelligence company DeepMind. Google acquired DeepMind in 2014. The company is based in London.
How Does DeepMind Health’s Technology Work?
DeepMind Health’s technology is designed to make hospitals more efficient at all stages of patient care.
One of the key areas of improvement with DeepMind is in patient analysis. Many hospitals in the UK’s National Health System depend on manual analysis of test results to flag potential issues. These issues are then manually escalated through pagers, desktop systems, and phone calls. There’s a potential for delay at each step of the system, and there’s always the chance for information to be missed entirely.
DeepMind believes that each of the above steps can be improved through AI and mobile tools.
The company is actively developing AI tools that can accurately analyze test results. These tools analyze scans to instantly decide whether or not a patient is at risk. Then, they use AI learning to continually improve their technology.
If the patient’s situation is urgent, the alert can be sent immediately to the right specialist, helping ensure the patient has a firm direction of where to go.
DeepMind Health’s Streams App
The first mobile app platform launched by DeepMind is called Streams. Streams doesn’t actually include any AI, but it may integrate AI learning in the future.
Streams has been deployed at the Royal Free hospital. As mentioned above, nurses claim the app saves them 2 hours per day, which means they’re able to spend more time with patients in need.
Streams basically works by sending alerts based on the severity of a patient’s condition. You can find reports online from patients whose conditions were picked up and acted on faster thanks to Streams alerts.
Streams was rolled out in early 2017. The platform was designed specifically with the goal of helping the early detection of acute kidney injury, or AKI – a condition that kills 40,000 patients a year.
26 nurses and doctors at the hospital were using Streams by the end of February. The app alerted professionals to patients at risk of acute kidney injury at a rate of 11 patients per day.
In November 2016, DeepMind Health announced that their partnership with Royal Free will continue over the next 5 years. After optimizing their AKI detection platform, the team plans to move onto other preventable conditions.
“When fully developed, we believe Streams will redirect over half a million hours per year away from admin and towards direct patient care at the Royal Free alone.”
Streams processes approximately 1.7 million patient records for the Royal Free at the time of writing.
About DeepMind Health
DeepMind Health was founded in London in 2010. The company was built with the goal “of building AI technologies and proving that they could have positive social impact.”
Interestingly, the company isn’t wholly dedicated to pursuing a profit. The company was designed with the secondary goal of creating a self-sustaining initiative:
“[Our goal is] to make DeepMind Health a self-sustaining initiative, through hospitals choosing to pay us for our software if they think they can have a positive impact on clinical outcomes and experience. We aren't looking to maximize profit, but rather to achieve sustainability so we can continue to grow our team, work with more hospitals and help more patients.”
DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014. In 2016, the company made headlines for its AlphaGo program, which became the first computer program to beat a professional Go player.
The company is led by CO Demis Hassabis. It was founded by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg, and Mustafa Suleyman.
DeepMind Health Conclusion
DeepMind is a British AI company that made headlines after being acquired by Google in 2014. The company is currently rolling out health care AI services to patients across the UK – including through their Streams app available at Royal Free, a hospital in London.
In addition to creating healthcare platforms, DeepMind has created a neural network that learns how to play video games, as well as a Neural Turing Machine, which is a neural network able to access an external memory like a conventional Turing machine, leading to a computer that mimics the short-term memory of the human brain.
Stay tuned for more information about DeepMind Health as the company continues to roll out its AI learning and healthcare tools across the UK.
