The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Lanarkshire, following staff’s unauthorised use of WhatsApp to share patients’ personal data over the course of two years.
It said that between April 2020 and April 2022, 26 staff at the health board had access to a WhatsApp group where patient data was entered on more than 500 occasions, including names, phone numbers and addresses. Images, videos and screenshots, which included clinical information, were also shared.
While it was made available for communicating basic information only at the start of the pandemic, WhatsApp was not approved by NHS Lanarkshire for processing patient data and was adopted by these staff without the organisation’s knowledge.
A non-staff member was also added to the WhatsApp group in error, resulting in the inappropriate disclosure of personal information to an unauthorised individual.
Once NHS Lanarkshire became aware, it reported the incident to the ICO. The following investigation concluded that the health board did not have the appropriate policies, clear guidance and processes in place when WhatsApp was made available to download. For example, there was no assessment of the potential risks relating to sharing patient data in this way.
Recommendations for improvement
The ICO has subsequently recommended that NHS Lanarkshire take a number of steps, including considering the implementation of a secure clinical image transfer system, and that before deploying new apps it should consider any risks to personal data and take steps to mitigate them.
In addition, it should ensure explicit communications, instructions or guidance are issued to employees on their data protection responsibilities when new apps are deployed, and review all policies and procedures relevant to the incident.
UK Information Commissioner John Edwards said: “Patient data is highly sensitive information that must be handled carefully and securely. When accessing healthcare and other vital services, people need to trust that their data is in safe hands.
“We appreciate that NHS Lanarkshire, like all healthcare providers, was under huge pressure during the pandemic but there is no excuse for letting data protection standards slip.
“Every healthcare organisation should look at this case as a lesson learned and consider their own policies when it comes to both messaging apps and processing information about patients. We will be following up with NHS Lanarkshire to ensure that patient data is not compromised again.”
