The theft of two computers from a Bradford hospital does not pose a risk to patient confidentiality, hospital bosses have said.

Police were called to St Luke’s Hospital in Little Horton Lane, at 7.45am yesterday when staff discovered two computers had been stolen.

It is believed they were taken from D block, which houses the dermatology department and the pharmacy.

The theft is being investigated by police, but hospital bosses moved to assure the public and patients that the theft would not result in a breach of patient confidentiality.

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “All of the Trust’s computers are password-protected in order to guard against unauthorised access.

“In addition, all data is stored remotely and no personal data is saved to individual machines therefore no personal records are at risk of being disclosed.”

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs St Luke’s Hospital and Bradford Royal Infirmary, introduced a raft of extra safeguards relating to the storing of patient data earlier this year after a secretary lost an unencrypted computer memory stick containing patient letters and waiting list data in the library of Leeds Metropolitan University, where she was also a student.

The breach in data security and patient confidentiality prompted an internal inquiry and the introduction of new security measures, spearheaded by the issuing of encrypted memory sticks to 300 members of staff, each protected by a password.

Other improvements included a ban on the use of all other memory sticks throughout the organisation, the modifying of desktop computers so only those memory devices which are authorised and encrypted can be used in them, mandatory use of passwords for users of BlackBerries and other handheld devices used to send e-mails and accessing the internet, a ban on the forwarding of e-mails to and from personal e-mail addresses and a requirement for all wards and departments to review their approach to the storage of patient data on a monthly basis.

Police say enquiries into the burglary are ongoing. Anyone with information should call (01274) 376625.