[Dataloss] The Isle of Wight's Sandown Health Centre reports 38000 missing health records

[TS Glassey]

The solution is simple - stop accepting unencrypted media for transport...

Todd Glassey
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Henry Brown" <hbrown at knology.net>
To: <dataloss at attrition.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 4:29 PM
Subject: [Dataloss] The Isle of Wight's Sandown Health Centre reports 38000 
missing health records


> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7410119.stm
>
> Confidential health records lost
>
> Confidential health records of more than 38,000 patients have gone
> missing after a computer back-up tape was lost by a courier firm, an NHS
> trust said.
> The Isle of Wight's Sandown Health Centre sent its records to a
> specialist firm for its software to be checked.
> But the tape, containing records of patients dating back to July 1996,
> failed to arrive when it was sent back using courier firm City Link in
> March.
> The Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust fears "it may be lost forever".
> A City Link spokesman said: "Naturally we are concerned about the loss
> of our customer's consignment and a rigorous search continues.
> "An investigation is under way and we are doing everything in our power
> to resolve this situation."
>
> A spokesman from the trust explained the back-up tape was sent away to
> ensure that it could be used effectively to restore information on the
> health centre's computer if it was damaged in a fire or other system
> failure.
> He said the back-up tapes were more secure than data stored on CD-ROM
> and the health centre still had a copy of all the data so patients would
> not be affected.
> "The risk of the tape being misused is extremely small," the trust
> spokesman added.
> "The tape requires specialist computer equipment to run it and the data
> is password-protected.
> "Highly advanced computer skills and/or access to a specialist programme
> only normally used by GPs and the data verification company are needed
> to make any sense of the information on the tape."
> The PCT and the health centre, which has been contacting patients to
> advise them of the loss, has set up a telephone helpline to address
> people's concerns.
> [...]
>
>
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