NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has admitted to a data breach after an investigation found it had been transmitting sensitive medical information about transplant patients across an unencrypted pager network. The service confirmed that names, dates of birth and details of organs being offered or needed were routinely sent to hospital transplant teams via pagers, with staff unaware the messages were not secure. NHSBT has since stopped sending patient data through this method and has reported the breach to the Information Commissioner's Office.
An investigative report found that NHSBT sent messages containing patient identifiers to members of hospital transplant teams who were using pagers. In 2019, then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the NHS in England should phase out pagers entirely by 2021, yet several parts of the organisation continued relying on the devices well beyond that deadline.
What exactly was exposed?
The breach involved a range of sensitive details being sent unencrypted over the pager network. Messages transmitted by NHSBT included the names, dates of birth, tissue-match scores and immunosuppression risk factors (cRF) of transplant recipients, along with donor names and information about which organs were available.
Pagers are small, battery-powered radio receivers that were widely used in the 1980s and 1990s. They function as a one-way communication system, only able to receive short text messages, callback numbers or alerts rather than send them - a limitation that contributed to their decline in everyday use as mobile phones became widespread.
Although NHSBT itself does not issue pagers, it used a messaging system that relayed information to devices carried by transplant teams. Because recipients of pager messages cannot be tracked, NHSBT said it remains unclear whether the unencrypted information was ever intercepted or how many individuals might have been affected.
Why were pagers still being used in healthcare settings?
Pagers were originally adopted in medical environments because they enabled rapid information sharing. Their low-frequency signals allow them to penetrate buildings and lifts particularly effectively, which is valuable in hospitals where thickened walls are often used to block X-rays and other radiation. Pagers also benefit from notably long battery life, making them a practical tool for urgent communications despite their age.
Anthony Clarkson, NHSBT's head of organ transplantation, explained that the service had been using the pager system for urgent communications with transplant teams, where speed can be critical. Messages were sent through multiple channels, including email, SMS text and, until recently, pagers.
