Camden News: Whittington Hospital | Archway | Pamela Edokpayi

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Camden News - INVESTIGATION by TOM FOOT
Published: 18 September 2008

WHO’S TO BLAME FOR LOST DISCS?

Claim: Whittington Hospital was warned of ‘staff crisis’

STAFF shortages at the Whittington Hospital may have led to the loss of thousands of confidential staff records, the New Journal has learned.
The Archway hospital announced on Monday that four CDs containing personal data of 18,000 staff members had disappeared from its payroll department on its way to an IT firm on July 22.
But it has been revealed that concern over staff shortages and the use of agency workers in the department was raised early in the year.
Pamela Edokpayi, regional secretary of the public sector union Unison, said: “We have had a number of complaints of staff shortages in the payroll department recently. There is a lot of pressure on colleagues to cover others who are on long-term illness.”
The hospital, which yesterday announced its plans to recruit five new permanent payroll staff, has denied there are problems with cover.
But they are unable to explain why the discs were put in the post tray when experienced hospital staff knew all confidential details should be dispatched by courier.
A hospital spokeswoman said all staff had been briefed on procedures, which were also on the hospital’s internal computer system.
A low-ranking member of staff was this week suspended by the hospital chief executive David Sloman, who defended the department as “robust” and said the risk of identity fraud was “minimal”.
But when the New Journal gained access to a private staff meeting at Camden Primary Care Trust headquarters on Monday, 40 staff, many upset, were told by fraud specialists that “strange things could come through the post”.
An internal inquiry will review whether any more senior staff were at fault, the hospital spokeswoman added.
The information was supposed to be taken on a 90-mile journey to Warwick, where US IT giant McKesson has its UK headquarters, and where it was to be added to an database.
The use of McKesson’s Electronic Staff Records service, which brings the company £4million profit a year, was also criticised after the loss.
London Health Emergency campaigns manager Geoff Martin said: “In the good old days hospitals dealt with payroll in-house. Now we have really confidential information flying around the motorway on motorbikes.
“This was a disaster waiting to happen and staff are right to ask what is going on? They might as well have thrown it down the Thames.”

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