Hospital chief sacked as data goes missing

A SENIOR hospital manager whose laptop was stolen while on holiday in Edinburgh has been sacked.

The computer containing the personal data of thousands of patients was stolen from a car park in the city.

The details, including names, dates of birth and treatment plans, were taken from the employee's car on June 18.

A spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, in Essex, said a police investigation had been launched into the theft.

"The computer contained personal information on several thousand of our patients, amongst many other files of less-sensitive data," said a spokesman.

"The lists contained details including patients' names, their date of birth, post code, hospital number and the hospital procedure the patient was about to undertake."

Peter Murphy, chief executive of the trust, wrote to apologise to the affected patients.

A police spokeswoman said: "Our inquiries are ongoing."