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Records of 800 patients go missing


Published on Tuesday 27 January 2009 16:19

A COMPUTER containing the medical records of more than 8,000 Co Londonderry patients has disappeared, it was revealed yesterday.

The tape was sent from the Garden Street medical practice in Magherafelt to an IT company in London which was updating the practice's system. A courier picked up the details on December 5, but they never arrived.

Confidential

The lost information contained patients' dates of birth, addresses and medical records.

Dr Ben Glancy from the practice said: "We have been advised that it is extremely unlikely that anyone's medical records could be read.

"The computer tape is security protected and requires a specialist programme which is normally only used by GPs and the data verification company in order to make any sense of the information on the tape.

"There is no suggestion that the tape has been stolen."

The Information Commissioner's office has been informed.

Codes

"Tape, unfortunately, was the only way to transfer this information as it could not be done electronically and unfortunately it could not be encrypted," said Dr Glancy.

"Although the northern board has a pilot project of encrypting this, we were informed the courier was the only method of transfer."

Blunders

A review of civil service data management was ordered last year following the loss of 6,000 Northern Ireland Driver and Vehicle Agency records in December 2007.

The data was on two discs and went missing after being sent to the agency's headquarters in Swansea.

Letters have been sent to all patients registered with Garden Street Practice to inform them of the incident.

A telephone helpline has been set up to deal with any concerns on 028 2566 3525 from 9am to 5pm until Friday and again on Monday.


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