Computer stolen from the Royal Bolton Hospital

Thieves struck in October - but hospital bosses only made details of the incident public yesterday.

It follows revelations last December that a personal computer which contained the private details of 350 chest patients was taken from the hospital in November.

Now the hospital is recalling all its computers and laptops so that vital security software can be installed which will encrypt patients' details.

Ann Schenk, director of service development at the hospital, said: "The police were informed on both occasions but there hasn't been any recovery of the computers.

"There is no evidence at all that whoever took the computers took them for the data. These machines were valuable, portable objects. The theft of computer equipment plagues this organisation and many others."

The computer containing the cancer patients' details was stolen when thieves broke into the office of a consultant radiologist during the night. The computer contained the details of 200 gynaecology cancer patients from Bolton, Wigan and Salford.

Information included patients' names, addresses, information, their diagnosis and treatment and clinical correspondence between medical staff.

Hospital bosses contacted all patients to inform them of the theft, but insist all information is data- protected and cannot be accessed by anyone other than the relevant hospital staff.

The theft took place just weeks before a computer from the thoracic medicine department was taken from the hospital. It contained the details of 350 vulnerable patients, who all use oxygen.

The Royal Bolton Hospital was one of nine NHS Trusts to lose patient data nationally, as the Government came under fire for a number of incidents in which data was lost or stolen.

Following the thefts, hospital bosses took a number of steps to improve the safety of patient data.

From next month, all information will be stored on a central server - a secure storage network - rather than on individual hard drives. All new laptops will also have controlled encryption software to make sure no-one but hospital staff can access them.

More than 300 laptops which have been already issued to staff are being recalled over the next three months so the encryption software can be installed.

Encryption software for memory sticks and pen drives will be installed on all equipment by the end of February and managers have been asked to carry out risk assessments on all computers and laptops.

Staff have also been told not to transfer any data until the encryption software has been installed.

A total of £200,000 is being invested in beefing up security at the hospital, including making offices more secure.

Heather Edwards, head of communication at the Royal Bolton Hospital, said: "While we believe the risk of anyone using any of the information is extremely small, we felt patients had the right to know what had happened.

"I'd like to repeat our apologies that such an event happened and reassure people that the hospital is taking this very seriously.

"We fully understand the anxiety the theft of data can cause and we have stepped up security of premises, as well as investing around £200,000 in additional IT security."