PATIENT RECORDS
enquired as to why this was happening. My response was that the reason for this was a mixture of the fact that the NHS is a huge organisation which has had the importance of these issues drawn to its attention and so is reporting more.
“I don’t look at those figures and think that everything is fine but that the NHS is a disaster area – all it says is that the NHS is a big organisation and we already knew that.”
To further its campaign to increase data security in the NHS, the ICO is trying to get as much publicity as possible for the undertakings which it does become involved with so that other NHS organisations will take notice.
“Our new and strengthened enforcement division is even now sifting through breaches to find examples of where we should begin to consider using our new powers for civil monetary penalties.
“So if organisations want to work with us, we are very keen to conduct a compliance audit with them to see how they are placed, which would then help us to formulate some practice recommendations. Managers should also remember that all of our resources, help and guidance are available through our website.
“This means that there really is no excuse for any NHS management to say they didn’t know or that they were not warned of the consequences of what would happen if they do not comply properly with data protection practices.
“If they refuse to take the hand of friendship, help and guidance which the ICO is offering them and continue to foul up, then it is going to get very tricky for them and they would do well
Sep/Oct 10
to contemplate the size of the monetary penalty which the ICO can impose upon them.”
That monetary penalty would sting even more than usual given the budgetary pressures which many NHS trusts are facing at the moment. But could these pressures also impact on trusts’ ability to deal to provide proper data protection?
“The challenge for all managers within the public sector, myself included, is to deliver excellent services whilst using less resources. The mistake we can
make is to believe that some things are not ‘frontline’ and so do not matter. I think that IT is so key to delivering excellent services that it would be a real mistake to think that it is not part of the front line service which the NHS offer.
“I am afraid that I am not going to avoid enforcing the law just because I have been fed a load of sob stories about how organisations have had to cut back on their information security divisions. That is simply not an option. Cut back on your IT securities at your peril.”
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