HSE says stolen Roscommon laptopn had social worker's case details

The HSE has completed the incident report into the 15 laptops stolen from its offices in Roscommon town recently and it has found that one unencrypted laptop contained sensitive information relating to a social worker"s case notes involving nine families. The HSE deeply regrets any upset caused to the individuals affected by this robbery and appeals to those who stole the laptops to return them at any Garda station. 'We will now endeavour to personally inform all of the families and individuals involved and offer a personal briefing tomorrow with local HSE staff. They will be given a letter advising them in relation to the theft of the laptop and the compromised information,' the statement said. The HSE said it took the issue of data protection extremely seriously. At any time there are 5,400 active laptops in the HSE - so far 91% have been encrypted. 'While 100% encryption is the organisation"s stated goal and the process to encrypt is ongoing, it must be appreciated that the HSE is a very large and complex organisation with many laptops dispersed throughout the country in hospitals and remote community based settings. The HSE said it advised the Data Protection Commissioner in September last that it was 'applying the necessary resources to encrypt its laptops as quickly as possible'. 'The technology was not in place in every part of the organisation to guarantee that all computers were encrypted. While the Data Protection Commission may have understood that all HSE laptops had been encrypted, the HSE wishes to clarify that this was not the case at that time,' it stressed. Meanwhile, Fine Gael Front Bench Spokesman Denis Naughten said the theft of 15 laptops from the HSE in Roscommon last weekend highlighted how the HSE had learned nothing from the mistakes of other Government departments on data protection. 'The fact that two of the 15 laptops stolen in Roscommon town were not encrypted clearly highlights the fact that the HSE as a national organisation is failing to put in place even some of the most basic requirements for patient confidentiality at local level. 'Large Irish organisations have a terrible record on keeping sensitive personal information secure. Sensitive personal information falling into the hands of strangers is a breach of privacy and of personal security. 'International criminals have increasingly sophisticated methods of using relatively small amounts of personal information to defraud. It is imperative that all possible steps are taken to prevent personal data from falling into the wrong hands. 'As someone who was part of a previous disclosure of medical data, I know all too well the concern this causes people. It is clear that the HSE has learned nothing from previous losses in other Government agencies. 'Only last year, Fine Gael proposed the creation a legal obligation for organisations to disclose within a certain period of time any breaches of data security, no matter how minor the loss.'