Following the Department of Health (DoH) admitting to a database security breach after discs containing confidential patient records went missing, the government's plan to set up a national health database has suffered a setback, with the opposition demanding a review of the idea, BBC.com reports.
It is claimed that nine NHS Trusts, City and Hackney; Bolton Royal Hospital; Sutton and Merton; Sefton Merseyside; Mid-Essex Care Trust; Norfolk and Norwich; Gloucester Partnership Foundation Trust; Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells; and East and North Hertfordshire have lost patients' confidential records, affecting 168,000 people.
The DoH maintains that the new database will help the management of patient files, providing easy access to valuable information, and not result in loss of information. It has also indicated that the government will continue with its plan for a national patient database.
A spokesperson from the DoH said: "These breaches are in no way related to the National Programme for IT (NPfIT); indeed the NPfIT will help avoid such incidents, as it has particularly strong data protection rules and the highest standards of security control."
Following a series of data security breaches, the British government has ordered a review across all government organisations. It has been taking extra measures to ensure such incidents are not repeated, including the strict implementation of the Data Security Act at all government and private organisations. |
