2:07pm Monday 30th June 2008
Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust's statement in full: On 18 June 2008 a laptop computer was stolen from a senior manager's car after it was broken into in Scotland. The police were called immediately and the Trust is cooperating fully with their investigation.
The computer contained personal information on several thousand of our patients, amongst many other files of less-sensitive data. The lists contained details including patients' names, their date of birth, postcode, hospital number and the hospital procedure the patient was about to undertake.
In a letter to the affected patients, Trust Chief Executive Peter Murphy apologised for the distress this incident may have caused.
He said: "The Trust offers all affected patients its sincere apologies for putting their confidential information at risk. The computer was password-protected and only authorised staff with the correct password could access the data. But as the data was not encrypted there is a very small chance that patient details can be accessed.
"We believe the data will almost certainly be wiped by the thief for a quick sale. Nonetheless, we owe it to our patients to protect their personal information and we have reminded our staff not to store this kind of data on laptops in the future.
"We have also set up a helpline for patients to ring for further information and the number is on the letter sent to the patients affected. If patients have not received this letter, their details are not on the lists stolen."
The Trust has not lost any patient data as a result of this incident. All of the files on the stolen computer were copies and the Trust still holds all of the information on its secure patient database at the hospital. No appointments will be affected.
Mr Murphy concluded by saying: "Patients and the public should be reassured that the Trust takes security and patient confidentiality very seriously. We are holding an investigation into how this incident occurred and its consequences and have suspended the member of staff involved until the investigation concludes."
© Copyright 2001-2010 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.gazette-news.co.uk