Staff at NHS Tayside were said to have been left “raging” after their personal details were shared in a data breach.
An email containing employees’ details was mistakenly shared with workers in the corporate equalities team on Wednesday.
NHS Tayside has not confirmed the nature of the data that was shared.
But a source told The Courier it contained information workers would not want to be shared widely.
Staff in the department deal with equalities, diversity and human rights at the health board, along with interpretation and translation services.
Concerns over ‘lack of security at NHS Tayside’
The source said: “A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was sent out accidentally to all members of staff.
“The details on the spreadsheet included contact details, next of kin and some personal information that they would prefer to keep private.
“All the details should never have been kept together like that on one spreadsheet and certainly should not have been sent through the standard mailing system.
“What’s more worrying is the lack of security at NHS Tayside, who keep details like this apparently lying around. Netflix has more security.”
The source claimed those affected were “raging” and felt “distressed” by the blunder.
NHS Tayside sent apology to staff after data breach
A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “Due to an administrative error, a file was mistakenly sent out on Wednesday afternoon to staff in the NHS Tayside corporate equalities team.
“An apology was sent to staff within the department and the incident was reported in line with appropriate information governance procedures.
“Staff have also been advised they can contact their line manager or NHS Tayside’s information governance team for further guidance or support.
“NHS Tayside takes the security of information very seriously and the information governance and data protection procedures will be reiterated to staff in the team.”
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