Kent hospital’s server hits the headlines

A hospital IT department’s firm action on unauthorised material loaded by staff onto their PCs has landed it in a national newspaper.

A server crash at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, Margate, Kent, required repairs and reloading of data. IT staff noticed the exercise was taking longer than it should and realised several large files containing music, videos and pictures were slowing things up.

A hospital spokesman explained a note was sent to staff from the IT department warning: “If we find any such files we’re going to wipe them instantly.”

The Sun led the way with a lively account of system failures and of staff having to resort to paper back-up for patient files.

The spokesman said: “This has not affected patient care. We’re still on hand-written notes.”

He added wearily: “The Sun got a bit carried away. Bosses are not red-faced and haven’t admitted anything.”