Alert as NHS staff see star's file
Updated on 18 September 2007
A warning has been issued over the Government's NHS IT upgrade after it was reported that staff viewed a celebrity's medical record.
The North Tees Primary Care Trust told of the supposed security breach in papers presented at a board meeting.
More than 50 members of staff were said to have accessed the celebrity's patient record.
But the trust said the incident took place outside the trust and it used the case as an example.
MPs raised the issue of security in a report published last week on progress in the £12.4 billion IT project.
The Government and NHS Connecting for Health has insisted systems for accessing patient records online under the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) are secure.
But the British Medical Association (BMA) and some patient groups still have concerns about patient confidentiality.
Under the new system, staff can only view a patient record if they are approved to do so and if they have a "smart card" and passcode.
Earlier this year, the South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust admitted it had been allowing some A&E staff to share their smart cards, saying slow log-in times were affecting the speed they could offer treatment.
The latest example is detailed in trust board papers from March, which said: "This risk is around staff inappropriately accessing patient's records who are not part of their case load."
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