CONFIDENTIAL medical letters, documents and payroll information have been stored in an unguarded corridor open to the public at Basildon Hospital. Our reporters were able to stroll into the corridor, off an access road at the back of the hospital, and look through envelopes, including some marked private and confidential. Read more in Echo
Author: Dissent
UK: GPs are the weakest link in data losses claims NHS chief
Steve Nowottny reports: The Government is planning to make compliance with data security standards a contractual requirement after claiming GPs are the weak link in keeping patient records safe. The plans – which are likely to be resisted by GPC negotiators – come just a week after a Pulse investigation found that four NHS trusts…
2 Staten Island nursing home emplyees charged in credit card theft
Two employees of a Stapleton nursing home were arrested after stealing a credit card from a patient’s bedside drawer and using it at several locations on Staten Island, according to a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan. Denard Brown, 44, of St. Mark’s Place in New Brighton and Benedicta Charles, 44, who lives at the…
AU: Not good privacy practice: "your Xrays are in the mail"
Peter Timmins writes: From a recent case note (S v Health Service Provider [2008] PrivCmrA 19) issued by the Federal Privacy Commissioner on whether reasonable steps were taken to protect personal information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure: “The Commissioner considered whether the steps taken by the health service provider,…
Thieves take laptops with data about Houston patients
Two laptops containing confidential medical information about Houston-area patients were stolen from a car parked at a Galleria-area store today and authorities are asking for the public’s help find them. A man who serves as a consultant for a local hospital parked his car at the Best Buy store at 5133 Richmond about 10:30 a.m….
Schwarzenegger signs bills creating hospital privacy oversight office
Jordan Rau and Patrick McGreevy report: Hospitals and other health facilities will face harsh new penalties if their employees snoop in the medical records of patients, under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after privacy was breached on celebrities’ files — including his wife’s — at UCLA Medical Center. Schwarzenegger approved two bills creating…