The hospital stressed that at that point the app Streams, "was not, and will not be relied on for patient care until this process has concluded," the site reported.

Powis responded to the input by stating that, “we have been very grateful to Dame Fiona for her support and advice during this process and we would absolutely welcome further guidance on this issue,” according to Sky News.

Caldicott wrote that she had offered her thoughts to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is the overseer of data for the U.K.

That group is now considering the legality of the deal under the the Data Protection Act, and told Sky News that it is “close to conclusion" in its investigation.

"We continue to work with the National Data Guardian and have been in regular contact with the Royal Free and DeepMind, who have provided information about the development of the Streams app," the ICO told the news channel.

DeepMind's clinical chief, Dr. Dominic King, sought to assure all involved, telling Ars Technica UK that, “at no point has any patient data been shared with other Google products or services, or used for commercial purposes,” adding that, "I think one thing that we do recognize that we could have done better is make sure that the public are really informed about how their data is used."

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