Patient records turn up as gift wrapping paper at shop

Whatever next? NHS patients’ paper records have turned up as packaging to wrap gifts up in at a jewellery shop! The records had originally come from Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, although the lack of care was not their fault.  The records had apparently been sent by the hospital to a solicitor who acted for patients and the records were inadequately shredded. A recipient of a gift from the shop got more than she bargained for and phoned the hospital immediately to report the data compromise. The hospital was horrified when it found out.

Unsafe deletion of personal data is a breach of the Data Protection Act. In this case, though, the solicitor may face additional consequences. If his clients were already in a litigious frame of mind when they were looking for legal action in respect of the hospital, they may next decide to vent their spleens, so to speak, at their legal advisers!