Cambridge College Hospitals Basis Belief has apologised after it mistakenly launched non-public info belonging to greater than 22,000 sufferers in two main knowledge breaches in 2020 and 2021.
The belief launched an official assertion yesterday (6 December), during which chief government Roland Sinker defined that each breaches “had been the results of mistakenly together with affected person info in Excel spreadsheets in response to Freedom of Info Act (FOI) requests”.
The knowledge included the affected person’s names, hospital numbers and a few medical info, nonetheless Sinker confirmed that no dwelling addresses or dates of start had been included, and no proof has been present in both case of the knowledge being accessed or shared any additional.
The belief mentioned the breaches occurred in 2020 and 2021 however solely “not too long ago got here to mild”. The primary breach associated to maternity sufferers and the discharge of “names, hospital numbers of sufferers and their start outcomes”, and the second breach associated to most cancers sufferers and included “names, hospital numbers and a few medical info”.
Maternity knowledge involving 22,073 sufferers booked for care at The Rosie Hospital between 2 January 2016 and 31 December 2019 was breached. Within the second occasion, knowledge associated to 373 most cancers sufferers on scientific trials was breached.
“We have now given cautious consideration to the advantages and dangers of writing to the sufferers affected. Given the sensitivity of the maternity info, we imagine that some sufferers might want to keep away from any danger of relations discovering out a few beforehand undisclosed being pregnant,” Sinker mentioned within the assertion.
“It is usually simple for this group of sufferers to determine themselves based mostly on the date vary above. Subsequently we’ve determined to not write straight to those sufferers.
“This isn’t the case for the most cancers sufferers, for whom self-identification could be much less simple based mostly on the identical degree of data, and so we’ve written to those sufferers straight.”
The belief has arrange a dedicate freephone helpline 0808 175 6331, e-mail help and revealed Incessantly Requested Questions for sufferers who imagine they might be affected.
Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, added: “It is a severe knowledge breach, which mustn’t have occurred. I’m happy that after they had been conscious, the Belief has acted swiftly and responsibly, in session with affected person teams, and has put in place smart measures to help these affected.
“Anybody involved ought to contact the belief for help. There now must be a full evaluate to make sure that this can not occur once more.”
Not too long ago, Somerset NHS Basis Belief has begun to contact sufferers who’ve been affected by an information breach at Musgrove Park Hospital.