After losing important data, an NHS trust was forced to apologise. The health employee responsible for the data loss had actually lost the memory stick which had information about 6,000 prison patients. In the investigation it was found that the password through which the data inside the memory stick could be accessed was also attached with the memory stick.

The NHS has withdrawn all the memory sticks of workers which are used to store important information as a safety measure to avoid repetition of such unfortunate events.

Many private commercial sectors have to deal with information about innumerable people and it is their responsibility to keep the data safe. Many business organisations can be forced to close down if such important data is lost by them.

The easiest and smartest way to avoid such data loss is by using online data backup. Online data backup is a method of protecting your data via internet. It keeps your data secure in the event of accidents and thefts. Online data backup can be accessed anytime and from anywhere. Moreover, it is cheaper than conventional forms of backup and hence has become immensely popular.

Addenbrooke’s Hospital faces a very high risk of loss of patient data.

According to a risk management audit done by the hospital itself, the high volume of data handled by the hospital everyday by a large number of staff indicates that the risk of data loss is very high.

It would be almost impossible to prevent patient data loss with the current system of data storage and management.

According to reports, over the past three years, Addenbooke’s hospital has lost a ward handover sheet of about 28 patients with the patient names, without the addresses and a register of the patients who got treated by the orthopaedic and physiotherapy team, again only the names and no addresses.

The hospital had apologised for the incidents and said that they were isolated incidents and the loss of data was at the most, minimal.

However, in April this year, Addenbrooke’s Hospital witnessed a very high profile data loss. A female staff member had lost the printed data about the types of medical test to be taken by 1252 patients in the hospital and also their NHS numbers while she was travelling on a bus. A risk assessment done by the hospital had indicated the risk of data loss is very high.

The hospital is taking steps to prevent such incidents of data loss in the future.