Capita assisting GP practice data breach police investigation

NHS service provider Capita is assisting a police investigation into a potential patient data breach, resulting from a ‘theft’, involving multiple GP practices in Northern Ireland.

The digital services company, which also runs Primary Care Support England (PCSE), said it would aid police in investigating ‘missing disks’ from several practices. 

A Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) spokesperson told Pulse: ‘Police received a report on Friday, 20th June in relation to theft from medical practices. Officers are investigating and enquiries are ongoing.’ 

The Department of Health told Pulse it was aware of a police investigation into ‘missing disks which in some instances contained personal information from a small number of GP practices’.

It said the affected practices had been notified. 

A Capita spokesperson told Pulse: ‘We are aware of an ongoing PSNI investigation relating to missing disks from a small number of GP practices. We will help this investigation in any way we can and cannot comment further at this stage.

‘It is not clear at this stage whether any of the disks contained personal information.’ 

In 2023, NHS England reported a data breach involving GP information following a cyber attack against Capita where patient data was accessed.

It was first reported that year the company was facing a class-action law suit due to data breaches associated with the attack.

Capita has been criticised by the BMA previously for issues with pension records, a topic also covered extensively by Pulse. 

The company has been the provider for PCSE, which handles back-office functions for GPs such as administration of pensions and transfer of medical records, since 2015.  

This year, it was awarded a three-year, £82.5m extension to the contract to run PCSE.