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‘Health chiefs must take blame for data loss’
23/ 1/2008
A STOCKPORT Councillor has slammed health bosses, claiming they should be held accountable for losing 4,000 patients’ data and failing to inform them.
A computer memory stick holding the information was lost in November by an NHS employee who had it clipped on a cord around her neck as she walked to her car.
It held the names, dates of birth and details of medical conditions of patients of Stockport Primary Care Trust as well as their NHS and trust numbers and details of their GPs. The Department of Health and GPs have been told of the blunder - but not the patients.
And yesterday, the agony was compounded when a second memory stick, believed to contain details of Stockport diabetes sufferers due for eye tests, was discovered abandoned in a Stockport car park.
Commenting on the first embarrassing mix-up, Coun Les Jones, the leader of Stockport Tory group said: "If there is a data protection policy why was it not enforced and if there wasn’t a policy why the hell wasn’t there?
"The recent government failures to protect personal details shows a cavalier attitude which had grown in some areas of the public sector."
Coun Jones said ultimate responsibility for failing to inform patients their personal details had been lost rested with the trust management.
"How would anybody like the details of their confidential medical status lost and yet nobody tells them about it? In my view that is management failure.
"I believe instead of another apology, the trust should be telling us what it is going to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
This week, the trust, which issued an apology to patients, also admitted diaries containing patients’ names and addresses were stolen from staff cars in two separate incidents in June.
Trust chief executive Richard Popplewell said: "I want to apologise personally for any inconvenience and distress this may have caused patients."
According to Mr Popplewell, immediate steps were taken to search for the device by retracing the path of the staff member.
But it had not been found. He said the loss was "an accident rather than any systematic failing in management and governance".
The GP practices involved had been informed but there was a "balance to be drawn between being open with patients and on the other hand avoiding unnecessarily upsetting them".
One of the diaries lost in June has since been recovered by police.
The trust has set up a helpline (until January 25) to deal with patients' enquiries and concerns on 426 5678. After January 25, call 426 5014.
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