Data breaches: all you need to know

Data breaches: all you need to know

Summary:

Maintaining the privacy of health information has always been central to the relationship of trust and confidence between doctor and patient. In addition, there can be significant penalties for a breach, as well as the possibility of negative publicity and damage to a person’s reputation.

Even a single breach of patient privacy has the potential to cause serious harm and may be notifiable. You need to think about how you would respond if; for example you discovered patient details had accidentally been disclosed; results had been sent to the wrong person; or a staff member had inappropriately accessed patient records.