NHS Highland apologises to patients affected by data breach
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NHS Highland has apologised to all affected patients after medical files were left outside a Highland hospital, it has been revealed.
The data breach compromised confidential patient information when files of 19 individuals were found on the pavement outside the facility.
A spokesman said: “NHS Highland has directly contacted all the patients affected by this data breach to apologise unreservedly.”
It is not known at which hospital the breach occurred but is the latest of more than 9500 data breaches across NHS Scotland in the past four years.
It has been reported in the national press that data breaches have been on the rise in recent years – in 2021 there were 3139 breaches up from 2206 in 2020, with 1936 already recorded this year.
NHS Highland was involved in an email incident in 2019.
On that occasion 37 HIV patients in the area were sent emails revealing their medical condition.
