The British artificial intelligence company DeepMind, owned by Google, has created DeepMind Health, a new medical technology division that will work to improve the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
Streams, one of the division’s first projects, was developed along with the digital product studio ustwo. Streams is an app that helps to detect acute kidney injury by immediately alerting medical staff of patients’ blood test results. Because this condition affects around 20% of those admitted into emergency care in the UK, an improvement to detection rates could save thousands of lives each year.
Another project that has shown promise is Hark, an app that helps clinicians manage tasks. The app is based around the notion that doctors and nurses can maximize patient care by minimizing administrative work. A trial at St Mary’s Hospital in London showed that response times of medical staff improved by 37% when using Hark.
