Old-fashioned breaches still exist. Amanda Keenan reports:
Health board chiefs have launched a major investigation after brazen thieves stole NHS laptops containing confidential patient data.
Around 20 staff devices were snatched from an office block within the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Govan.
Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board bosses have been forced to fork out £14,000 to replace the stolen equipment, which the Glasgow Times understands contained an array of sensitive and private information.
There are now calls for CCTV to be installed to monitor the office buildings, along with ramped up campus security patrols.
But apart from the cost, let’s consider the data protection of patient data and whether the theft of the laptops has put patient privacy at risk, and whether the health board is relying too much on employees securing laptops physically:
A spokesperson for Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board said that the matter was under review.
They added: “We can confirm a number of thefts of laptops from offices within the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, which have been reported to police. All corporate NHSGGC laptops have encrypted hard drives as standard, which prevents unauthorised access to data which may be on drives within the device.
Does it, though? If the devices were open and logged in when stolen, was patient data accessible?
Read more at The Glasgow Times.
If any reader is familiar with this particular health board and incident, DataBreaches would welcome any insights you have.