Trust loses patient data 50 times in three years
RED-faced hospital bosses have admitted they have lost confidential information about patients more than 50 times over the past three years.
Sensitive medical notes have been found in public toilets, off of hospital grounds, or even been posted to the wrong person since 2005.
The information, released to the Observer under the Freedom of Information Act, lists all 'known' times when confidential data from
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has gone missing.
It is possible that there are many more breaches that have not been picked up by staff, patients or their relatives.
The revelation, comes as the Government admitted that a contractor had lost the names and addresses of 5,000 justice staff.
Leader of West Sussex County Council Henry Smith said he was 'alarmed' that personal information should be used in a 'casual' way.
He said: "I think first of all there have been too many of these data losses from public authorities.
"I find it particularly concerning that authorities such as SASH, who are given quite sensitive data about people's health and their personal details should used in such a casual way.
"For data to be kept on being lost, for it to keep on happening suggests a culture of personal data not being given the importance it deserves. It calls into question the whole government drive for ID cards – they can't look after the information they've got."
Cllr Brenda Smith, Labour Group Leader for Crawley Borough Council, added: "Not knowing whether these figures are an increase or a decrease, any loss of personal data is to be regretted."
The information reveals how a confidential report was left lying on a photocopier and had 'disappeared' when a member of staff had returned.
On five separate occasions a letter was sent to the wrong person and many times information including, patients' names, addresses and medication were found lying on the floor.
A spokeswoman from SASH said: "The Trust takes incidents like this extremely seriously and investigates each one thoroughly, looking in detail at what has happened together with the process and human factors that have contributed to these.
"The Trust has measures in place to minimise the risk of incidents like this recurring, including rigorous staff training and regular reminders on the use of patient information and its confidentiality.
"Personal identifying data that is sent outside of the Trust also complies with national guidelines for security measures and we continuously work towards bettering this process."
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