by Martin Jefferies

mjefferies@thekmgroup.co.uk

A CD containing the personal details of 1.6 million people has been sent to landfill by mistake by a Kent NHS trust.

Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust stashed the disc in a filing cabinet during an office move.

The furniture was then dumped in a landfill site.

The CD, which contained the names, addresses, dates of birth, NHS numbers and GPs of patients, has not yet been recovered, although the information is not believed to have been accessed.

The disc did not contain people's health records. Had it done, the incident would have been "one of the most serious breaches" of data ever seen, according to a privacy watchdog.

Simon Entwhisle, director of operations, Information Commissioner's Office

eastern and coastal kent primary care trust's response

ann sutton (pictured), chief executive, said: "while the breach was unfortunate, i would like to reassure patients that the data stored in the filing cabinet was not current - the most recent information was from 2002. there was no clinical data involved and the data is beyond retrieval.

"information systems are now far more secure - we no longer store information on floppy disks or cds and use sophisticated systems of encryption.

"we accept the information commissioner's report and have already strengthened our policies, procedures and training."

A report sent to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) reveals staff at the NHS trust were "not up to date with the information governance training and had not accessed relevant guidance on how to dispose of the CD".

Signed by Ann Sutton, chief executive of Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust, it says "substantial remedial measures" have been taken "to prevent the recurrence of such an incident".

Training will be stepped up to make sure staff know how to store personal data safely and correctly.

A spokesman for the ICO said: "This case highlights that clear policies and procedures should be put in place to support staff when handling personal information as part of an office move.

"These policies should be communicated to all relevant staff.

"We are pleased that Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust has now taken action to make sure that the personal information they handle is kept secure."