Welcome To The Data Leak Lawyers Blog

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?
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NHS data breaches and NHS data breach compensation

The National Health Service (NHS): the provider of the nation’s healthcare that we put our trust and confidence in to look after us and care for our bodies and minds. In that trust, we usually give them unlimited access to our medical records.

Within those medical records, the NHS know all about our bumps, scrapes, embarrassing ailments and our most guarded mental health issues. They are a target for hackers and are leading the leagues when it comes to the highest number of breaches, which is very worrying. A lot of it is down to inadequate systems and procedures, but for the victims, it can become a life-changing event.
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Will fingerprint systems prevent data thefts in the healthcare industry?

In the digital era, the safety of data has been a huge concern for many industries. The healthcare industry has always been a prime target for cyberattackers, and it’s one of the industries that suffers the highest number of breaches.

There’s no surprise as to why this is the case. Medical records are seen as a treasure trove because they usually contain a wealth of personal information – enough information gathered for someone to seriously blackmail a victim, or perhaps even commit identity fraud.

Medical information is sensitive – so will new tech save us from future scandals?
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Three NHS employees found guilty of illegal data snooping

Despite Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) warnings, NHS employees are continuing to breach data protection laws. We again see employees being found guilty of illegally accessing medical records belonging to people they know – i.e. family, friends, neighbours and colleagues – we assume this data snooping is merely to satisfy their curiosity.

In this latest batch, three perpetrators were fined by the ICO for their clear and obvious breaches, and we are yet again left wondering what can be done to stop these continual events happening.
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Medical data still the most commonly breached information

Healthcare breaches are common, but it can also be a case of them being more likely to be reported. Whichever way you look at it, something needs to be done about the continually growing trend of medical data breaches.

All those who work in the healthcare sector have a duty to not disclose, mishandle, or misuse a patients’ personal information. In fact, this is the very foundation of a patient / doctor relationship. However, while most people believe their personal information is protected, data breaches by the NHS and the healthcare sector remain far too common.
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Nursing and Midwifery Council dismisses NHS midwife for snooping on medical records

A ‘nosy’ midwife has been sacked by the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust after she was discovered to have viewed confidential medical records belonging to friends, colleagues and other acquaintances.

Thirty-eight-year-old Vicky Anne Bloxham lost her job as a midwife for the illegal snooping carried out between 2002 and 2016.

In 2016 alone, Bloxham reportedly reviewed the medical records of some 45 friends and acquaintances without authorisation, with one person’s records accessed 13 times in a four-month period.
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Yet another NHS worker fined for accessing sensitive medical records without authorisation

It seems the NHS can’t keep its staff under control as yet another worker has been found guilty of accessing sensitive medical records without authorisation.

Linda Reeves reportedly abused her position as a former data coordinator with access to the Trust’s patient database by rifling through medical records belonging to colleagues, friends and neighbours. She did not have any consent or authorisation from patients or her employer as the data controller.

Reeves has since resigned from her job at The University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust.
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Aetna sued for revealing HIV statuses of 12,000 patients

Health insurer, Aetna Inc, is being sued for a serious oversight that reportedly revealed the HIV status of around 12,000 patients when a letter was sent out to customers with large clear windows that referenced HIV medication.

It’s a monumental blunder that’s similar to the London sexual health clinic, 56 Dean Street breach, where an email was sent to over 700 patients with names and email addresses for recipients visible. We act for a large proportion of the people claiming in that action.

The clear window is of course intended to be clear, so the address is shown for posting, but this doesn’t change the fact that the letter clearly hadn’t been properly planned out given that private medical information was visible too.
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Hackers release names of professional footballers who allegedly failed drug tests

Hackers have reportedly released information on professional footballers who have allegedly failed drug tests registered by UK Anti-Doping (UKad) agency, as well as information about which footballers have been given Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for otherwise banned medications during the 2010 World Cup.

Famous names include ex-Premier League players Carlos Tevez, Dirk Kuyt and Gabriel Heinze.

Another 21 professional footballers were named as having TUEs.
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Another NHS worker fined by the ICO for accessing and disclosing information from medical records

On the 11^th August 2017 yet another NHS (now former) worker was fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for accessing sensitive health records belonging to family, friends and colleagues without authorisation.

She even disclosed information she found.

Brioney Woolfe worked at Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust as a Midwifery Assistant. The self-confessed ‘nosy’ midwifery assistant reportedly accessed 29 patient medical records, including the parents of her children’s school friends.
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