Patients must be known by number not name, medics told

Staff at two major hospitals have been ordered to refer to patients by a number instead of their name in a bid to keep personal data secret.

Medics at Colchester General and Essex County hospitals have been threatened with disciplinary action if they send emails containing names.

The decision comes after a senior manager at Colchester University Hospital Trust lost thousands of confidential medical records when a laptop was stolen from his car in June.

A series of thefts of sensitive patient information have raised concern over the safety of NHS records, prompting the Department of Health to order all trusts to encrypt sensitive data and protect it with passwords.

But the information on the latest stolen laptop was not encrypted, and contained information on 21,000 patients. Staff have also been banned from using all data sticks and memory-pens because they are easily lost or stolen.

Bernard Jenkin, MP for North Essex, said: "Using numbers depersonalises patients - the last thing they want while they are in hospital is to be referred to as a number. I am concerned that there could be a mistake like a simple typing error that could lead to all sorts of problems.

"Nursing staff know the people they have to deal with by their name - it is only common sense."

Local hospital campaigner Vicky Williams said: "It feels as if you have lost your identity. The hospitals are frightened after the loss of the laptop but that involved a single person."

But the medical director of the trust, Dr Marion Wood, said: "We are reminding staff of the proper procedure to ensure patient information is managedin the correct way. The hospital's-generic email account is unsecured so while it is fine for day to day communication between staff, it should not be used to send personal details."

The Evening Standard revealed this year that at least 100 computers, many containing patients' names, addresses and medical histories, have been stolen from dozens of trusts.

Trusts that fell victim to thieves included North West London Hospitals, Queen Elizabeth, Chelsea & Westminster, North Middlesex University, Imperial College Healthcare, Royal Brompton & Harefield, Barking, Havering & Redbridge and University College London Hospitals.

Many of the trusts could not say whether patient information was stored on the stolen machines. Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children had 12 computers taken, while six were taken from St George's Hospital in Tooting.