Health Direct official NHS Blog- advice, news, information

Apologies if our Health Direct Blog takes a few moments to download in full as our comprehensive knowledge and coverage grows, so
some connections may take a few seconds to download it all. Sorry if this is an inconvenience to you.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Thousands of patients' data lost by NHS trusts

Hundreds of thousands of confidential patient records are believed to have gone missing in the latest lost data scandal.

Nine NHS trusts have admitted losing confidential patients’ information in the aftermath of the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data loss scandal, it emerged.

Hundreds of thousands of people are thought to have been affected by the breaches of strict data protection rules by the health service.

The losses were disclosed as police continued to hunt for two HMRC computer discs containing the details of 25 million child benefit claimants.

Since the tax discs went missing in the post it has also emerged that three million motorists’ details have been lost in Iowa, in the American mid-west.

One of the NHS trusts involved - Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells - has reported two breaches to the Department of Health (DoH), meaning that ten cases have occurred in total.

The DoH said it did not have details of how many patients were affected in each case as the breaches were being dealt with locally.

City and Hackney Primary Care Trust has reportedly lost the details of 160,000 children after a computer disc failed to arrive at its destination at St Leonard’s Hospital, east London.

The other trusts involved are Bolton Royal Hospital, Sutton and Merton PCT, Sefton Merseyside PCT, Mid-Essex Care Trust, East and North Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Norwich and Gloucester Partnership Foundation Trust.

The NHS chief executive, David Nicholson, recently wrote to NHS managers reminding them of their responsibilities with regard to data handling.

A DoH spokesperson said: “Since the recent heightened concern about data protection a small number of trusts have reported breaches of their own security rules. There are strict guidelines and procedures for dealing with such breaches.

From:
http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article3089052.ece

Health Direct observes that it may be a New Year, but many of last year's Labour NHS fiascos continue. Your personal data is at risk.

The Department of Health's fatuous statement does nothing to grow confidence.

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home