Kaya Burgess reports:
The NHS has lost the confidential medical records and personal details of thousands of patients in a “catalogue of errors†uncovered by an investigation into how the health service handles data.
A “fundamental re-examination†of how the NHS deals with personal data was demanded last night after research showed that a series of losses and thefts had potentially exposed the private details of 10,000 patients around the country.
A total of 135 cases were reported, including the loss or theft of diaries, briefcases, CDs, laptops, memory sticks and, in one case, a vehicle containing patient records.
A back-up tape of an entire system was stolen from a general practice in the East of England this year. In another case, a laptop containing the records of 5,123 patients was stolen from the outpatients’ department of a hospital in the West Midlands.
Read more in Times Online