Google warns NHS of the need to develop mobile technology and data

The Times (£) has reported that Google’s UK policy manager and former aide to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Theo Bertram, has warned the NHS that private firms are racing ahead in developing devices to monitor health, suggesting it will cease to exist within a decade unless it embraces mobile technology and regains public trust in its use of personal information. In March, Google pulled out of a deal to include NHS hospital data in its search results due to privacy fears. Former GP and Conservative member of the health select committee Sarah Wollaston commented: ‘There is huge potential for the NHS and patients to benefit from better use of technology.’ The NHS would be able to identify areas of failing care by assessing anonymised patient data, but an independent panel decided the care.data scheme was put together in too much of a hurry.