Tag: NHS

Lost data disc found in depot (UK)

A missing computer disc holding medical records of 160,000 children has been found – stuck in a conveyor belt at a giant mail depot.

The CD, which had been lost in the post, was spotted by a worker at the TNT parcel office.

It is thought to have become lodged in the workings of a mechanical sorting system at the distribution firm’s main depot in Nine Elms, South West London.

A further EIGHT discs containing patient records are still unaccounted for.

But the find raises hopes that those – plus two others holding personal details of half the population – could be lying unnoticed, rather than in the hands of identity thieves.

TNT alerted police as soon as the disc was discovered on Saturday.

The CD vanished after being posted from City and Hackney Primary Care Trust to St Leonard’s Hospital in East London.

It was one of nine containing information on 168,000 patients which have gone missing from NHS trusts across the country.

The losses were revealed just before Christmas, following a Government-wide data security review.

That was sparked after Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted in the Commons that child benefit records of 25 million Britons had gone missing after being sent on CDs through insecure post by HM Revenue and Customs.

The Metropolitan Police serious and economic crime unit is still searching for them.

Senior officers believe they were probably mistakenly thrown away by a civil servant.

It also emerged that details of three million learner drivers had also been lost after being sent to the US.

There is no evidence any of the missing discs have fallen into the hands of fraudsters or blackmailers.

But their loss has raised concerns about the Government’s new Connecting for Health database.

The system, costing tens of billions of pounds, would hold medical.

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Health workers strike over privatisation

Hundreds of health workers are today holding a 24 hour strike in a bitter row over privatisation – just as the controversy is set to be debated at Labour’s annual conference.

Workers at NHS Logistics, based at five distribution centres in England, walked out at 11pm last night for the second strike in a week in protest at a contract being awarded to German firm DHL.

Unison said the strike will lead to a shortage of some supplies being delivered to hospitals and GP surgeries across England.

The union has called on the Government to suspend the 10 year contract, due to come into force on October 1, and warned there were “growing concerns” about pay and conditions.

A separate dispute at DHL has blown up involving thousands of driver and other workers in a row over pay and jobs.

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NHS delivery force on strike

Hundreds of NHS workers will stage the biggest strike in the health service for almost 20 years today, in a bitter row over privatisation.
Workers at NHS Logistics, who deliver goods ranging from bedpans to food to hospitals and GP surgeries across England, will walk out at 10pm for 24 hours in protest at being transferred to German-owned delivery giant DHL.
They will stage a second 24 hour stoppage on September 26 to coincide with a debate on the health service at next week’s Labour party conference.
The workers voted last week to take industrial action after the Government confirmed the transfer of their jobs to DHL in a 10-year contract which Unison said was worth GBP3.7 billion.
Karen Jennings, the union’s head of health, said: “Our members have worked hard to build NHS Logistics into an award-winning service and don’t deserve to be treated in this way. There is simply no logical explanation for this transfer.”

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