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Hospital sends wrong medical records detailing miscarriage of another patient

A hospital has reportedly sent the wrong medical records detailing the miscarriage data of another patient.

Liverpool Women’s Hospital were supposed to send a patient her medical records after she suffered a miscarriage at the hospital. As well as sending her own records, they somehow managed to send the medical data of another patient with the hospital notes as well.

The medical data breached in this incident included the patient’s name, address, data of birth, NHS number and notes about treatment they had received at the hospital for a miscarriage

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Healthcare sector at risk of grunt bot attacks

The healthcare sector is at risk of ‘grunt bot’ attacks, which are one of many innovations hackers have come up with to save themselves time and give themselves the ability to hack their targets more easily and more efficiently.

Grunt bots – literally automated bots that can seek out weak and vulnerable systems and break into them for the hacker in seconds – can save a hacker potentially hours of manual work. The healthcare sector is at particular risk because they’re known to sometimes use outdated systems which can be more vulnerable to attack.

It’s another wake-up call that means, unless healthcare sector shapes up its cybersecurity, they are at risk.

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More access of patient records without authorisation in the NHS

There has been another prosecution over the access of patient records without authorisation in the NHS.

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined and prosecuted Michelle Harrison, formerly employed by Milton Keynes Hospital Trust, for accessing patient records without authorisation. Harrison reportedly pleaded guilty to improperly accessing the records of 12 people without any need or authorisation to do so.

This prosecution is the latest in a long line the ICO has had to enforce against NHS staff accessing medical records when they shouldn’t be.

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Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital Data Breach

Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital has reported a data breach involving patients who were taking part in a study.

The hospital, based in Shropshire near the Welsh border, confirmed the data breach in a report to the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s governance board. The data breached has been described as confidential information, and an investigation is believed to have been initiated.

It’s understood that the data breach has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

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Inogen Inc. medical data breach

Inogen Inc. have reported a medical data breach involving some 30,000 customers where the improper access of personal information occurred.

Medical data breaches are a real concern, and medical device data breaches are a current issue given that medical devices in this day and age can be computer controlled and are “smart” devices that can send data from patients to servers elsewhere.

While smart medical devices could undoubtedly save lives as the flow of data can be vitally important for patient wellbeing, medical device data breaches are a monumental worry, which is why any medial data breach involving a device-maker is a cause for alarm.

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Last year’s WannaCry attack was a lucky escape for the NHS

Last year’s WannaCry attack was a lucky escape, and the government is quite rightfully being urged to learn lessons from the encounter. We are almost a year on from the day that saw around one-third of all NHS Trusts in England disrupted by the malware attack that specifically targeted older (and therefore weaker) systems and servers.

The attack saw hundreds of other NHS organisations – including almost 600 GPs – infected during the attack, and some 20,000 hospital appointments and operations were cancelled.

Ultimately, the WannaCry attack was simple malware that still managed to cripple the NHS. It was a lucky escape, and future attacks involving medical data could be far, far worse.
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Hospital data breach compensation

You are entitled to claim for hospital data breach compensation if your personal and medical data has ever been leaked, hacked or generally breached.

A hospital data breach can of course be very severe, given the type of data they often hold about people.

A patient can be entitled to claim compensation for any distress or serious psychological harm caused as a result of a hospital data breach. Whether it’s general data or sensitive medical data that is private and personal, the avenue for compensation is available for victims.
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Advice on medical data loss compensation claims

You can make a medical data loss compensation claim if your private medical information has been lost by a healthcare professional or healthcare organisation. With medical data being so sensitive and personal, it can be disastrous for a victim if medical information falls into the wrong hands.

A recent study indicated that, although cyberattacks often affect more people and are far more widely reported, it is medical data loss and incorrect data disposal that can be a bigger plague in the medical industry.

Although medical data loss can affect fewer people at a time, data loss and incorrect data disposal cases can often be worse on an individual basis.
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NHS Healthcare systems most vulnerable to data protection breaches caused by hackers

A recent study concluded that, in January, almost 40% of data protection breaches in a particular healthcare sector were caused by hacking.

Although the figures are from one study, and the results are relevant for the area of the study, the risk of NHS Trusts, doctors and hospitals falling victim to a hack is a serious and ongoing concern.

The 2017 “WannaCry” cyber-hack that specifically targeted older and more outdated systems hit the NHS hard. In fact, the UK faced a practical crisis in the immediate fallout of the hack.
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NHS staff accessing neighbour’s medical records is NOT okay

There is a recent worrying trend of NHS staff being caught out snooping on people they know, or are related to, by abusing their powers to access their medical records.

Let’s be absolutely clear: it is NOT okay for any member of the NHS to access their neighbour’s medical records without good reason or due authorisation.

If you are informed that a member of the NHS staff has accessed your medical records in such a way, or if you discover it has happened, you may be entitled to claim for data protection breach compensation.
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