| SEFTON PCT LOST RECORDS TIP OF ICEBERG |
| Friday, 28 December 2007 | |
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The loss of personal data by Sefton PCT and other health trusts raises big question marks about the government's plan to centralise medical data in one huge database according to MPJohn Pugh who has for some time been a critic of the £6billion project. Commenting on the dangers of centralisation the MP said: "It raises the risk level as it widens massively the number of people who can access and copy personal data at the flick of a mouse. You can make the network as secure as you like but with the advance of technology the transfer and copying of information from the network onto less secure media like flash drives gets easier. Having people's health records portable and accessible in an NHS working sometimes under intense clinical pressure is inherently risky. "Avoiding accidental loss or unplanned release of sensitive data is going to be harder than preventing malicious access. You cannot for example expect casualty staff in a crisis to act like account managers in banks. "Given the increased risks the county needs to weigh up the risks of massive database against the benefits. There is no evidence that the government have done that. "Even know however we need to be told what data is held on us, in what form and how it is secured Patients have the right to out of the NHS database but most probably wont and need to feel the information is safe. They currently don't." |