The Information Commissioner has told the Liberal Democrat’s health spokesperson, Norman Lamb that he will be launching an immediate investigation into the leak of applicant’s details on the Medical Training and Application Service website, E-Health Insider has learned.
Two weeks ago, Channel 4 News reported that they were able to log onto the MTAS website and have access to confidential information including doctors’ addresses and telephone numbers, previous convictions, sexual orientation and religion.
At the time, Lamb announced he had written to the Information Commissioner asking him to investigate urgently the release of sensitive personal data of junior doctors on a Government website.
In a reply to the MP dated 2 May and seen by EHI, Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner wrote: “I share your concerns about the allegations about lack of security and access to sensitive personal data contained within the MTAS website. I consider that the alleged breaches in question may amount to an issue of general and serious public concern and importance in that the public rightly expect organisations both in the public and private sector to safeguard the security of their personal information.”
Thomas added: “In these circumstances there is a clear duty of confidentiality between the Department of Health and junior doctors. Following the reports in the media I decided to commence an investigation into the allegations made, I asked the head of the regulatory action division, Mick Gorrill, to take responsibility for the investigation.”
The MTAS website is also under a Department of Health investigation and has been suspended by the government.
Health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, apologised once more for the leak on the BBC’s Question Time show last Thursday, where heckling junior doctors called for her to resign.
Hewitt said she would not be resigning of her own accord, but invited the audience to submit questions to her on the show’s website. The BBC says it will publish a selection of questions and the answers given by Patricia Hewitt on the Question Time website in a few days’ time.
The Information Commissioner said it was too soon to draw lessons that applied to the Connecting for Health programme, saying: “Although it is too soon to say whether any specific lessons I have no doubt that the experience serves as a stark illustration of the issues which arise where security of sensitive data is not treated with the utmost seriousness.”
The assistant information commissioner, Jonathan Bamford, is expected to give evidence on the electronic patient record to the Health Select Committee on Thursday.
Gorrill meanwhile has written to David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, asking him to provide an immediate explanation regarding the reported security breaches of the MTAS website and to provide the Information Commissioner’s Office with details of the Department of Health’s investigation into the breaches and the action being taken to prevent a further occurrence.
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