The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) is to contact the 171,000 Irish blood donors whose personal details were on a computer stolen in New York earlier this month.
The laptop was stolen on February 7th when a New York Blood Centre staff member was mugged. He had the records of Irish donors on his laptop because the New York centre is customising a software programme it developed to meet the needs of the Irish blood service.
Some 171,324 Irish donor records and 3,294 patient blood-group records were on the laptop. The donor records include details such as name, address, date of birth, gender, blood group and contact phone number. The records on the laptop included any donor details that were updated between July 2nd and October 11th, 2007.
The IBTS said that while records were securely encrypted on the computer, there was a "remote" chance the data might be accessed by a third party.
It said it was notified of the theft the day after it happened and it informed the Data Protection Commissioner of what happened on February 11th.
"We are writing to each donor affected by this incident to reassure them and to advise them of the possibility, however remote, that their personal data might be accessed. We expect these letters to be posted on Friday, February 22nd," the ITBS said.
Donors who are concerned can contact the IBTS information line on 1850 731 137.
