A WATCHDOG has reprimanded a health board after staff members shared patients’ personal data on WhatsApp hundreds of times.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Lanarkshire after they found 26 staff sent sensitive data to each other via the messaging app on more than 500 occasions.
The data was leaked between April 2020 and April 2022.
The data included patients’ names, phone numbers, addresses, images, videos, screenshots and clinical information.
READ MORE: Rishi Sunak puts strict rules on media for Scottish visit
While WhatsApp is approved for NHS staff for basic communication, it is not approved by the NHS for sharing sensitive data.
A non-staff member was also added to the WhatsApp group in error, meaning they could have viewed the sensitive information.
NHS Lanarkshire was made aware of the issue and reported the incident to the ICO, which conducted an investigation and concluded the organisation did not have the appropriate policies, clear guidance or processes in place when WhatsApp was made available to download.
This meant that NHS Lanarkshire had no assessment of the potential risks relating to sharing patient data.
UK Information Commissioner John Edwards said: “Patient data is highly sensitive information that must be handled carefully and securely.
“When accessing healthcare and other vital services, people need to trust that their data is in safe hands.
“We appreciate that NHS Lanarkshire, like all healthcare providers, was under huge pressure during the pandemic but there is no excuse for letting data protection standards slip.
“Every healthcare organisation should look at this case as a lesson learned and consider their own policies when it comes to both messaging apps and processing information about patients.
“We will be following up with NHS Lanarkshire to ensure that patient data is not compromised again.”
The ICO has since recommended that NHS Lanarkshire should take action to prevent future data breaches.
The ICO suggested the health board should implement a secure clinical image transfer system for the storage of images and videos within a care setting.
The watchdog said NHS Lanarkshire should “consider the risks” in relation to personal data and ensure that staff are “aware of their responsibilities to report personal data breaches internally without delay to the relevant team”.
The ICO asked NHS Lanarkshire to provide an update of action taken within six months of the reprimand being issued.
NHS Lanarkshire acknowledged the issue and apologised for the leaked information.
Trudi Marshall, nurse director health and social care North Lanarkshire, said: “We have received a formal reprimand from the ICO for the use of WhatsApp by one of our community teams to exchange personal patient data during the pandemic.
“We recognise that the team took this approach as a substitute for communications that would have normally taken place in either a clinical or office setting, but was not possible at that time due to Covid restrictions.
“However, the use of WhatsApp was never intended for processing patient data.
READ MORE: Gerry Hassan: Politicians need to stop thinking and acting small
“We offer our sincere apologies to anyone whose personal details were shared through this group.
“We have already taken a number of steps including looking at alternative apps that can be introduced for the transfer and storage of images and videos within a care setting.
“This is being taken forward while considering the risks relating to the storage of any personal data.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel