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Colchester: Concern over call after laptop theft
2:00am Friday 4th July 2008
Comments (11)A WARNING has been issued to hospital patients whose details were stolen on an NHS laptop computer.
Patient Tony Utting contacted Colchester General Hospital and the Gazette after receiving an odd phone call.
Mr Utting, 66, of Tiptree, who was one of the patients affected by the stolen laptop, said he was contacted by a woman with a Scottish accent.
He said: "She didn't identify herself or anything, and said she was doing a review of big organisations losing people's details.
- More in today's Gazette
Your Say YourGazette
Norm, Colchester says...
7:49am Fri 4 Jul 08
Josie, Holland on Sea says...
11:08am Fri 4 Jul 08
The information held (apart from the medical details) by the hospital can be found in the public domain if someone really wants to get them.
Concerned of, Wivenhoe says...
5:23pm Fri 4 Jul 08
Rita Jackson, Colchester says...
6:25pm Fri 4 Jul 08
tired manager, tendring says...
7:08pm Fri 4 Jul 08
but all my records are amongst the missing
No health records, or medical records, or personal medical history etc were on the laptop. Read the letters page of Fri 4 July's Gazette please.
I would prefer bank details to go adrift than that of my medical records and my childrens!
Again, I'll repeat it for those that are confused to reassure people: NO HEALTH RECORDS WERE ON THE LAPTOP.
Concerned of, Wivenhoe says...
7:34pm Fri 4 Jul 08
I'm concerned not confused!
J O'Brien, Colchester says...
7:36pm Fri 4 Jul 08
Mr Utting, 66, of TiptreeLet's use this data (name, age and town) to see what we can find out...
Quick search of BT online phonebook looking for Utting of Tiptree found me A Utting
Tel: (01621) ****
xx Maple Leaf, Tiptree, Colchester, CO5 0NJ
Then a quick search of 192.com found me loads of info on Mr Utting which if you click here you can see:
http://tinyurl.com/5
rnxay
It's true you'd have to pay a small fee to have the data revealed to you, but you can find out the
Current Occupants
Neighbours
1861 Census Record Search
Family Record Search
Director Information
Previous Occupants
Property Prices
Directions
for Mr Utting.
With Ancestry.co.uk, you can search the complete English and Welsh Birth, Marriage & Death Indexes from the introduction of Civil Registration in 1837 all the way up to 2005 for FREE. And when you take out a FREE 14 day trial, you'll be able to take your search even further.
What amazes me is the number of people that have willingly had the Gazette print their name and address, their child's name (with a photo to make it easy to identify who she and her child is!) and in one case the place that another person worked (Stansted Airport) and yet accuse the hospital of breaking data confidentiality!
So using the info printed in the Gazette I could go and suss out when people are not at home and carry out a malicious act! Amazing that some people don't think through their actions.
Anyway, I bet this gets taken down by the Gazette for showing them in a poor light.
Hughie, Here says...
7:55pm Fri 4 Jul 08
I use caller display and let it go onto the answer phone if I don't recognise the number.
shish kebab, one step beyond says...
8:20pm Fri 4 Jul 08
I got a phone call from a strange woman the other day as well. She knew that my house had windows and wanted to know if we wanted to buy any new ones.
How odd. Someone knocked at my door yesterday asking me if I wanted some milk. He had a bit too much bottle if you ask me. These are the jokes folks; we're here all weekend!
Concerned of, Wivenhoe says...
12:36pm Sat 5 Jul 08
As such I would not expect someone employed at a senior level in an industry that is looking after individuals at a personal and emotional level, to really be that thoughtless and naive about what they are leaving in a car, ie the laptop!
The fact that (some of) my details are then stored on this laptop without my knowledge or prior consent (given that most information in the public domain appears there with both) is an appalling example of an act of true carelessness. Roll on my next appointment!!!
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jT Gimley, harwich says...
7:22am Fri 4 Jul 08
Let's not get paranoid out there please. People with Scottish accents work at the hospital after all - my wife is one.
It would have helped if Mr Utting hadn't put the phone down on the caller AND had asked her who she was from. That would have solved the mystery.
PS There are Reds under the bed.