Quick Facts

• Date: 7/25/2007
• Institution: Nottingham University Hospitals
• Type of Incident: Theft
• Number Affected: 1
• Source: ESI
• Abstract Source: E-Health Insider

Abstract
A thief made off with a USB thumb drive belonging to a Nottingham University Hospitals junior doctor that contained sensitive patient medical information. After reviewing the incident, it looks like using USB drives to store patient information is a common practice among Nottingham University Hospitals junior doctors. During research for the British Medical Journal, Matthew Daunt a foundation year one doctor, recently questioned 50 junior doctors about storing patient data. Of the 20 doctors that admitted to using USB drives to store data, not one of them used encrypted USB drives, leaving patient data readable to anyone with a computer and the drive itself. Since this incident, the Nottingham University Hospitals trust plans to being offering 128-bit encrypted USB drives to all junior doctors.