DOCTORS are putting patients at risk by using their own smartphones to share potentially confidential details, including photos, a study has found.

Medics use apps, text messages and picture messaging to share clinical information about patients, with some forgetting to delete the details afterwards.

Experts behind the study said the "lack of data encryption and necessary security" means the sharing of patient information is " currently unsecure and may result in the inadvertent disclosure of highly sensitive and confidential data".

This is particularly a risk if handsets are lost, stolen or viewed by other people, they said.

Researchers, including from Imperial College London, surveyed doctors and nurses at a large London NHS trust consisting of five individual hospitals.

In total, 287 doctors and 564 nurses completed the survey.

Some 65% of doctors said they had used text messages to send patient information, while 46% had sent pictures involving patients to colleagues.

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