Police recover stolen NHS laptop

A laptop stolen from Nottinghamshire Teaching Primary Care Trust containing the names, addresses and dates of birth of 11,500 children has been recovered by police.

The computer was one of three stolen from the PCTs offices at Sherwood Forest Hospital following a break-in on 21 March. It contained data on child patients aged between eight months and eight years.

A spokesperson for the PCT was reported to say that it was examining the laptop to try to establish whether thieves had accessed the data.

After the theft, PCT chief executive Wendy Saviour said: "The information was protected by a password, which reduces the chances of anyone being able to see the information."

According to Computerworld the PCT was unable to confirm if the data was protected by any other security measures – or why confidential child information was held on the laptop in the first place.

The PCT has written to nearly 10,000 affected families and a helpline has been set up.