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NHS results were stolen
A hospital claims a bag containing highly sensitive sex test and mental health results was stolen and not just found on the street.
Police have been called in to investigate how the bag full of HIV, mental health and cancer test results of named patients bound for Kingston Hospital ended up abandoned on a street.
Having taken the bag from an anonymous source and returned it to the hospital on the same day, this paper was interviewed by police about the circumstances and offered to assist in their investigation.
Richmond Park's MP Susan Kramer, who last week called for an inquiry into the incident, has revealed the scandal was the tip of an iceberg as new evidence about the scale of information loss across the country came to light.
She said new evidence discovered by the Liberal Democrats revealed 37 million pieces of data were lost last year, mostly by the Government.
"This evidence shows that the recent incident in Kingston was just the tip of the iceberg where data protection failures are concerned.
"In the case of Kingston, the data was particularly sensitive, and could have caused significant embarrassment to those concerned if it had fallen into the wrong hands."
She added that all public bodies should carry out an independent review of how they protect sensitive data.
The 173 documents, which included patients' names, dates of birth, NHS numbers and GP details, as well as their test results, were found inside a grubby, unmarked bag in Kingston Hill, shortly before 1pm on January 4.
Police confirmed they received an allegation of theft on Tuesday, January 8, from Kingston Hospital, but could not say whether any criminal proceedings would result from the investigation.
9:28am Monday 21st January 2008
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