Bungling West Midlands medics lose 12,000 private patient records

Sep 5 2010 by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury

BUNGLING Midland medics have lost the personal records of nearly 12,000 NHS patients in just eight months, the Sunday Mercury can reveal.

The incredible data loss includes the confidential files of 10,000 people – taken after criminals stole a server from a dental practice.

Other incidents saw more than 170 private patient details emailed to an insurance company by mistake.

But it is not just those using the NHS who are at risk of having sensitive information about them passed on.

Last year a hospital worker was suspended after it was discovered he had sent a file containing payslip details for EVERY member of staff to his home e-mail account.

The losses were all reported to NHS West Midlands by hospitals and Primary Care Trusts in the region between August last year and March.

Cops were called in to investigate the 10,000 records which went missing from the dental surgery in January.

Details of that and other data loss incidents were passed to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which monitors breaches of confidentiality.

Last night, a spokeswoman for NHS West Midlands said the lost records only represented a tiny proportion of their work.