The Sun has reported on a potential security breach with
the "Choose and Book" system - part of the NHS's National Programme
for IT [NPfIT] - at a GP practice at Essex.
The paper has an editorial piece about the potential breach
under the headline "Data Dunces".
The Sun reports that crooks may have accessed patient records.
It said that a security card flaw has left the system open to abuse
for two years. Sensitive medical details, addresses and National
Insurance numbers of every patient in the country could have been
seen by anyone in a GP surgery or hospital without using the
special swipe card.
NHS Connecting for Health, which runs much of the National
Programme for IT, said, ""We are aware of a local hardware fault
experienced in a GP practice. It caused no breach of patient
confidentiality and is being thoroughly investigated to ensure that
this cannot happen again."
The Sun's editorial says:
"There is nothing more private than your medical records. Yet it
seems anyone can access the NHS computer database. The government
promised it could not happen. Yet a GP finds he can log in without
security checks. Labour insist that the ID cards database will be
totally secure. But how can we believe them?"
See
Tony's IT Projects blog for more on NHS IT