header-logo header-logo

Private eye

27 July 2012 / Tom Morrison
Issue: 7524 / Categories: Features , Data protection , Freedom of Information
printer mail-detail
istock_000001153004medium_4

Tom Morrison returns with his quarterly review of the world of information law

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has been handed the largest civil monetary penalty issued so far under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998). At £325,000, this substantial fine was issued following the theft of computer hard drives containing confidential information relating to thousands of patients and staff in September 2010. Highly sensitive personal data was found on hard drives sold on eBay two months later. The data included details of patients’ medical conditions and treatment, disability living allowance forms and reports on children. It also included documents containing staff details such as National Insurance numbers, home addresses and information referring to criminal convictions and suspected offences.

Source of the information breach

It seems that the source of the breach was an individual engaged by the trust’s IT services provider which was supposed to securely destroy approximately 1,000 hard drives held in a secure room at Brighton General Hospital. Four of those hard drives made their way

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
back-to-top-scroll