Britain's National Health Service should be in the running to win a Golden Rasberry Award of some form for appalling personal data security practices. The Liberal Democrat party used a bunch of Freedom of Information requests to unearth dozens of examples of loss, theft or just downright carelessness. All of which led to peoples' personal details disappearing into the wild. Often the incidences are minor - a couple of dozen patient records here, a few records there. The problem is, when it comes to peoples' personal medical records there's no excuse. All too often it's silly things - "Patient info blown about outside GP surgery after bin was knocked over". But when IT equipment is stolen, it's impossible to know if the theft was intended or not. Medical information can be key to identity theft - the NHS continually plays into the hands of the bad guys.
NHS lost patient details 135 times in two years
"A total of 135 cases were reported, including the loss or theft of diaries, briefcases, CDs, laptops, memory sticks and, in one case, a vehicle containing patient records.
A back-up tape of an entire system was stolen from a general practice in the East of England this year. In another case, a laptop containing the records of 5,123 patients was stolen from the outpatients’ department of a hospital in the West Midlands."
Here's the full story from the Liberal Democrats:
NHS data loss utterly shocking
"Research by the Liberal Democrats has uncovered a catalogue of errors by the NHS regarding the protection of confidential patient information.
Reported cases involved the loss or theft of diaries, briefcases, CDs, laptops, memory sticks, and even vehicles containing patient records.
Private patient notes were left in public places, deserted buildings, and dumped in bins and skips."
And here's the full list of data breaches they uncovered via their FOI requests:
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