Hospital doctors are risking the loss of confidential patient
information with the widespread use of unprotected memory sticks,
say two clinicians.
A survey at a teaching hospital in London, by two unnamed
clinicians, found that 92 out of 105 of their colleagues held
memory sticks. Of these, 79 memory sticks held confidential patient
information, but only five were password-protected.
The
clinicians told Health Service Journal, "People have hundreds
of thousands of kilobytes of patient information on these
sticks"
One of the clinicians, a surgical registrar, told HSJ the
unsecured memory sticks included patient names and dates of birth,
alongside information such as X-ray results, diagnoses and
treatment details.
They said this was a clear breach of data security, and that
unless "urgent action is taken", the NHS will be the subject of
further data security scandals.
This year there have been reported
memory stick losses at hospital trusts at Stockport and
Lothian. The trust in
Hackney, north-east London, encrypted all its memory sticks,
laptops and other hardware after two computer disks went
missing.
A Department of Health spokesman told HSJ, "Any breach of
patient security is unacceptable. We would urge HSJ to provide
details of the survey to the relevant trust so they can take
appropriate action to protect patient confidentiality."