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    NHS patient data not encrypted

    Wed 25-Jun-2008

    NHS patient data not encrypted

    A number of NHS Trusts are having difficulty encrypting patient data and have already missed a deadline set for the completion of the work back in March, according to reports.

    The Department of Health has said it would take at least six months from the setting up of the new encryption hardware to completion of the project but Connecting for Health (CfH), the body responsible for the completion of the work, only received the software on March 20th.

    A CfH spokesperson said: "It is understood that this process can take some time as skilled technicians are required to complete the task."

    This means the data of millions of patients remains unencrypted ten months after NHS chief executive David Nicholson asked Trusts to make the encryption of personal data a priority.

    In other news, the Times has reported the recent loss of data concerning 25 million child benefit records was caused by a "woefully inadequate system", according to a report compiled by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

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