Laptop with Patient Data Stolen from NHS Hospital

An NHS hospital in Dudley reported the theft of a laptop containing the personal information over 5,000 patients. Although the theft in question happened in January, word of it got out only later, when the Dudley Group of Hospitals announced all affected patients.

According to an article published by Vnunet.com, the laptop was properly secured, requiring a password to login and a different one for the actual database containing patient personal details. The article further shows that NHS blames the large number of people going in and out of a public hospital for the theft, claiming that the security is a major concern. The company has spent quite some money on data encryption but apparently they should have tried to complete the process sooner:

“We take precautions to try to protect all the IT equipment in our hospitals from theft, but given that this is a public building with thousands of people accessing it every day, there are inevitably practical difficulties around security.”

Farenden said that the trust is in the process of rolling out encryption technology, following a £135,000 spend on data security. However, the laptop in question had not been upgraded before it was stolen.