MTAS security breach story breaks

Channel Four News has just broken the story on a massive security breach on the MTAS website. It seems that some clever bod over at MTAS IT thought he / she could get away creating a secret URL for the download of information from the MTAS site. Security by obscurity as it's known. This URL however, it seems became public knowledge!

The data contained names, addresses and phone numbers. But also included sexual orientation and details of criminal records and references!!

I can not understand why anyone would need to have a download of all this data available, but if you are going to do that then using such a poor security model is madness.

Unfortunately, this kind of ineptitude is just the sort of thing we see daily in the NHS and is why I think the organisation fails. Lets just hope that none of this information got into the wrong hands.

New Gastro-oesophageal reflux tutorial

I have just posted a new tutorial to our site on gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. It has been written my a upper GI consultant surgeon called Mr Menezes from Ashford and St Peter's Hospital.

We have also recently started designing and hosting websites for surgeons and his site is the first. Take a look at the Gallstone and Relux Clinic Site and if you are interested in having a site designed then get in touch.

Eponymous Surgery

We have posted a new article on eponymous surgical signs and symptoms. Always useful to some of these for bonus marks.

If you have any others to add then please contribute.

RCSEng President statement on transitional training posts

The president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Wales has released a statement following the meeting of the review group on MTAS with regard to surgeons. He says that it has been agreed that there needs to be special consideration for surgical trainees and that a transition post arangement will be put in place.

http://www.surgeons.org.uk/latest-news/bernard-ribeiro-rcseng-president-statement-on-mtas-review-ou.html?Itemid=2

The ludicrous nature of choose and book

I had a good one in clinic today.

A patient was being seen by a different speciality at a hospital 20 miles down the road and they diagnose a hernia. Firstly, they have to refer him back to his GP to get an out-patient appointment with a general surgeon. When the gentleman gets to his GP the choose and book system doesn't list his local hospital! So believe it or not he can't "choose" his local hospital 6 miles from his home and he ends up with us.

This is clearly nonsense for the patient, but I also wonder what the carbon footprint of this is?