THE Kent and Sussex Hospital at Tunbridge Wells has categorically refuted a story published by a national newspaper that medical records are being targeted by hackers picking up information through a wireless network.

The newspaper claimed that confidential files are potentially accessible because there is no security on the computer networks that do not rely on wires.

It also says that security is so poor that hackers could access wireless signals at a range of 300ft using a laptop computer. If a hacker introduced a computer virus into a hospital it could be “catastrophic”.

But a spokesman for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said: “Kent and Sussex Hospital does not have a wireless network. The hospital’s post graduate centre does, but it is not connected to the hospital network and no patient records or other confidential information is sent over it.

“We take the security of patient information extremely seriously and as a result of the newspaper’s concern, we immediately rechecked the hospital’s systems as a precautionary measure.”