Details of 170,000 blood donors on laptop stolen in US

A laptop containing over 170,000 confidential Irish patient files has been stolen during a mugging in New York in the last ten days.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Board gave the laptop to the New York Blood Centre which was upgrading software that was to be used in Ireland.

The details were given to the New York Blood Centre so that the new software could be tested using the new system.

Information contained on the discs includes names, addresses, blood groups and other more personal data.

The IBTB has said that the information contained on the laptop was encrypted, and they have assured the public that none of their personal data can be compromised.

The Chief Executive of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Andrew Kelly said tonight: “It’s practically impossible to break the code, it would be the equivalent of winning the euro millions lottery 10 weeks in a row.”

Letters will be sent out to all clients of the IBTS later this week advising them of the situation.