NHS fined as files go on eBay
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has been fined £325,000 by a data protection watchdog after highly sensitive files of tens of thousands of patients, including details of HIV treatment, ended up being sold on eBay.
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Reporter Charlotte Wilkins explains how patient files ended up on ebay as a hospital is fined £325,000
Chief Executive - We can't afford the fine
The Chief Executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals says they will dispute the fine, because the Trust cannot afford to pay it. According to the trust the fine would pay for the delivery of 300 babies, 50 hip operations, 30 heart bypasses and 360 chemotherapy treatments.
– Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals,"We reported all of this voluntarily to the Information Commissioner's Office, who told me last summer that this was not a case worthy of a fine. The Information Commissioner has ignored our extensive representations. It is a matter of frank surprise that we still do not know why they have imposed such an extraordinary fine despite repeated attempts to find out, including a freedom of information request which they interestingly refused on the basis that it would "prejudice the monetary penalty process"
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Patient files sold on eBay
The Information Commissioner has issued the largest fine in its history to a Sussex health trust after patient files were sold on eBay.
Read the full storyNHS Trust fined
An NHS trust has been fined £325,000 by a data protection watchdog after highly sensitive files of tens of thousands of patients, including details of HIV treatment, ended up being sold on eBay.
The fine from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the highest issued by the watchdog since it was granted the power in April 2010.
The fine from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the highest issued by the watchdog since it was granted the power in April 2010.