A flash drive containing patients’ personal details has gone missing at Queen Mary Hospital, nine months after it was stored in a ward. A clerk at the hospital’s department of pediatrics discovered the loss on Monday, and informed management the following day.
The device is not encrypted or password-protected. It contains a data file with the names and identity card numbers of 19 patients.
The data file was originally stored in a password-protected desktop computer.
Staff used the USB for a one- off data file backup on July 8, shortly before a computer system upgrade.
It was then stored in the ward where the staff member works.
Read more in The Standard.
In July 2010, a hard drive containing personal information of 780 cancer patients and over 30 volunteer staff was stolen from the hospital.