Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

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).

read more

By Author

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.

read more

By Author

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.
read more

By Author

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.
read more

By Author

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.
read more

By Author

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.
read more

By Author

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.
read more

By Author

NHS health board left “devastated and disappointed” after another employee data protection breach

In what Hywel Dda University Health Board admitted to be the second data protection breach they have faced of this nature, yet another NHS worker has been caught accessing confidential medical records without a valid reason.

Instances of NHS workers accessing medical records when they have no reason or right to access them is a common problem at the moment. Most of the time, staff committing the breaches are accessing records for people they know out of nothing more than curiosity.
read more

By Author

NHS outsourcing and the dangers of data breaches

The NHS budget is a hotly-debated topic. Cuts, cuts and more cuts have led to some services being squeezed beyond measure, and the obvious truth is that cost-cutting can directly lead to increased chances of mistakes.

Last year, one huge case of cost-cutting seemingly led to a monumental data breach scenario and millions of pounds being paid to pick up the pieces. In 2017 it was revealed that more than 500,000 pieces of patient information in the five year period between 2011 and 2016 had been lost as a result of outsourcing. Such sensitive data being lost is a huge issue.
read more

By Author

NHS remote and automated systems: What are the concerns?

In the past few years, the National Health Service (NHS) has made attempts to expand and ease the pressure on its extremely busy and hectic services with use of new technology. This included setting up an entire NHS internal email system that allows staff to send ‘secure’ emails to each other to share ‘sensitive information’.

An electronic prescription service is also available that allows GPs to send a prescription directly to a pharmacy.

But in the increasingly interconnected digital world, what are the concerns over using such technology? Should we be worried?
read more

By Author