Report: Health are failing on security
Friday 11th September 2009, 2:57PM BST.
Comptroller and Auditor General Chris Swinson
A report detailing a series of data security blunders has revealed that Islanders’ personal information – including medical records – are not being properly protected by States departments.
An independent review by Jersey’s Comptroller and Auditor General, Chris Swinson, warns that as a result, Jersey could suffer a major data security failure like that which affected the UK.
The Health Department’s procedures are heavily criticised in the report as being ‘inadequate’, while other States departments also come under fire.
The review reveals that cleaners, engineers and ordinary members of the public have access to rooms where highly confidential and private medical details are held. It also found that storage cabinets for adult social care records were broken and that the secure storage space for files was almost full.
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
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Good idea, lets give our overworked, underpaid health professionals something else to add to their workload. Lets adopt stringent security procedures that means no one can get into the hospital without being vetted by MI5.
Look were not talking about some idiot leaving a laptop on a train with top secret national security information contained on it – that’s our friends across the water. Give them the resources they need to do the job or get off their backs.
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Jersey health care should take a leaf out of the NHS’s book and start protecting their data properly. Patients privacy should never be underestimated, and their records should be properly protected!
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As far as I’m aware, Medical Records are normally protected by inhouse-trained admin staff within a strictly controlled Medical Records department in any hospital. It would appear that the Medical Records department staff at the General would need to be properly trained on confidentiality. It is shocking that these records might be touched by any other members of the public other than nurses and doctors. This is a total lack of respect for ill patients.
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