2011-06-15

By Deborah Ritchie

It is alleged that the medical records of 8.63 million patients, which would include details of abortions, HIV infections, cancer and mental illness treatments, have been lost after an NHS laptop went missing in late May.

According to reports, the apparent theft of the unencrypted laptop from a London NHS building would constitute potentially the biggest data loss incident in the history of the NHS.

In a statement, the Information Commissioner’s office said “Any allegation that sensitive personal information has been compromised is concerning and we wil now make enquiries to establish the full facts of this alleged data breach.”

David Smith, the Deputy Information Commissioner revealed earlier this year that the NHS was responsible for one third of all the data breaches his office had investigated.



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