Thieves steal patients' medical records

5 Feb 2010

A police investigation is underway following the theft from a GP practice of the medical records of more than 5,000 patients.

Computer hard drives and encrypted DVDs were stolen from the Pound Lane surgery, Downpatrick, Co Down, in Northern Ireland, over Christmas, a spokesman for the South Eastern Health and Social Care Board said.

Security features on the stolen equipment are, however, likely to stop the thieves from accessing the data, the spokesman said.

He said: "The practice and the board have been working in the period since the break-in to establish whether the stolen information could be retrieved or recovered from other sources. However, this has not proved possible."

The board said the theft involved records of around 5,400 patients which are being recovered manually in a process that could take several months.

Information on the back-up DVDs is encrypted - making it almost impossible that thieves could access it.

The spokesman added: "Any impact on patients is being minimised by the practice, which has contacted patients by letter to advise them of the steps being taken and how they can assist in having their records restored as soon as possible."