The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issue an undertaking to the Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust after details of cancer patients went missing. Three unencrypted data sticks were lost or stolen that contained sensitive patient information including the full treatment and full diagnosis history relating to a number of cancer patients. The details were only in Word format meaning that anyone with access to a computer would find it easy to download and read the information.

The undertaking suggests a number of steps to improve data security such as appropriate training for staff, an improved storage policy for the personal information and policies as to how that data is used and who is able to access it. Encryption software should always be installed in these circumstances.