My medical records have been stolen...

[madmedusa]

I got a letter yesterday from my GP saying my medical records were on the discs that were stolen....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8498102.stm

This is the bit that's bothering me....

"The Health and Social Care Board said security measures on the disks and the fact the DVDs were encrypted, made it unlikely the files could be accessed "

Why would anyone steal the hard drives if the details couldn't be accessed?? How difficult would it be for someone to access the info??

[Technical Officer]

Hmmm I can't really answer that accurately... I'd need some details of the encryption/security used to be able to give any kind of opinion about how safe the records are. I'd be surprised if there's any major risk to you though. The truth is that it was probably a hardware theft. Where the theives were after the hardware only and that any data on it has long been destroyed. We used to see a lot of this in my industry, I used to derive great pleasure in the fact that the hardware I work on uses hardware that looks like it'll work in a PC... but it doesn't If I were you. I'd ask your doctor to clarify the encryption that was used, and I also wouldn't worry too much. If it was the hardware they were after (most likely) they've no interest on what is on it, and probably wouldn't even know where to start to look at actually reading the data.

[madmedusa]

Thanks Dave, I'll ask them and thanks for the reassurance... I couldn't have anyone knowing I'd a really bad kidney infection three years ago....

[Delboy]

I couldn't have anyone knowing I'd a really bad kidney infection three years ago....

Tough, Mads. I've just emailed that to the Daily Mail. By the time they have twisted and distorted it, tomorrow's headline will be :
"Illegal Immigrant Benefits Cheat Steals Medical Data And Destroys Kidneys Of EA Poster"

[Moomum]

Tough, Mads. I've just emailed that to the Daily Mail. By the time they have twisted and distorted it, tomorrow's headline will be :
"Illegal Immigrant Benefits Cheat Steals Medical Data And Destroys Kidneys Of EA Poster"

Oooh, you're mean, Del!

Mads - Kerplunk! I had no clue what you were talking about in your earlier email, but I am enlightened. Don't be surprised if you start getting cold calls from pharmaceutical companies wanting to cure your ills! Your kidneys secret is safe with us BTW.

[madmedusa]

Tough, Mads. I've just emailed that to the Daily Mail. By the time they have twisted and distorted it, tomorrow's headline will be :
"Illegal Immigrant Benefits Cheat Steals Medical Data And Destroys Kidneys Of EA Poster"

The thing is, someone set fire to the surgery before Xmas, completely gutted the place...... I think I should change GP...

Don't be surprised if you start getting cold calls from pharmaceutical companies wanting to cure your ills! Your kidneys secret is safe with us BTW.

I don't have any ills..... just no liver and a tendency to swell when clegs bite me... which doesn't explain the emails offering to enlarge my penis.

[skeeterthefly]

which doesn't explain the emails offering to enlarge my penis.

They probably think that gorgons are hermaphrodites...

[Wild Bill]

Six years ago I went to my doctors (I had been at this one for at least twenty years)and asked for my inoculation record which will be on my medical record.
They said they had not got my records!
After a bit of annoyed questioning they suggested I try my old doctor (in a nearby town)I drove there (why could they not phone I wondered later).
The other docs had a look,'no,we sent them to your new doctor over twenty years ago'.
Back to my docs ,after another look they found my old paper records which still had not been put on computer!

[Agent Sizzle]

Our local GP surgery in Barnet was also recently burnt down.

I don't know why patients can't have more direct responsibility for their medical records. After all, it's information concerning you and your body, and so it doesn't get much more personal than that.

For example, that patients are given a CD with their medical records on. This might not be practical every single time you see your GP about something routine, but certainly every time you are referred to a hospital, specialist or gynaecologist or whoever. When you leave, you're given a CD, which contains the results of tests, x-rays (including the images) and so on, and you can take it along either to another specialist, hospital or to your GP. There's no waiting, either - you get it immediately. That's how it works here - maybe that's the system in the UK too, I don't know - if so, then obviously ignore the above.

It's also the norm that the patient keeps their own inoculation record. For example, when I wanted the swine flu jab back in October, my normal GP didn't offer it. So I just went to a different GP and was asked to bring along my "yellow card" with the list of vaccinations since birth. Not being German born, or having had any previous vaccinations here, I didn't have one, so I was issued with a make-shift one, but at least I can document having that or any subsequent vaccination if required - without having to bother with the doctor later.

[Moomum]

Sounds like a good system, Sizz. There is definitely a lack of communication here, even from hospital to hospital. Within our hospital (where I work in the mornings) the IT side of things within house are getting slightly better with X-rays and stuff being able to be accessed immediately by doctors because the images are put on computer and accessed through certain programmes. But if someone goes as an A&E patient to another hospital and their GP then refers them on to the hospital the surgery is contracted to, the chances of getting access to their A&E notes with any degree of expediency are very very slim. Or if, like me, you have moved around a lot as a child, your medical records can literally take a lifetime to catch up with you. God forbid I should ever be admitted unconcious to hospital because they rely so much on you being able to furnish them with all your past medical history. That means you have to be talking and responsive. Mr Moo wouldn't have a clue about half the things that have happened to me in the last 40 odd years.