series of workshops are being held for health and care providers to help them ensure that sensitive medical and financial data remains secure.
The Care Conference will take place across the end of September and early October, and is being sponsored by Barclays, BDO, Birketts, and Future 50 Company the DPO Centre.
The DPO Centre is a data protection compliance consultancy, which can advise on GDPR and the Data Protection Act, as well as providing an on-demand data protection officer.
MORE: Gadget entrepreneur to appear on Dragon's DenThe conference is taking place in three locations: Colchester, Norwich and Cambridge.
Andrew Dahl, chief marketing officer at DPO, said: "There are two reasons which can lead to data leaks in the health and care industry.
"The first is human error, more specifically, a lack of training. People don't necessarily know which pieces of information have the potential to be sensitive."
He continued: "The other area is in the systems. Sites may think they have adequate software or protection but in some cases they aren't secure enough."
Rob Masson, chief executive of the DPO Centre, will be reviewing the key data protection compliance issues affecting the healthcare sector in his speech at the conference.
As well as highlighting key regulations, Mr Masson will also be discussing why data protection officers are so important in compliance management.
"The implications of a data breach can be huge," said Mr Dahl. "First for the patient. This could be medical information that they haven't yet told their loved ones, or it could be - for whatever reason - someone is trying to find out and is told under false pretences.
"There's also a financial risk to the patient if their data was leaked. Obviously when looking at insurance or in some cases employment, if the data was out there it could sway the decisions of outside parties."
He continued: "There's also a big implication for the health or care provider. Obviously the reputational damage given the data leak, but also when applying for funding which in the care industry in particular is very significant."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here