Confidential hospital patient records found dumped in Sydney bin
More than 700 public patients and hundreds more in the private system have had their privacy breached after letters from their specialists to GPs were found dumped in a Sydney bin.
Key points:
- The letters were found dumped in a bin in Ashfield last Tuesday
- They were follow-up letters to GPs from specialists at outpatient and cancer clinics at Royal North Shore, Gosford and Dubbo hospitals as well as six private providers
- They were supposed to be delivered by a private transcription company
The letters were turned over to police after being discovered by a resident in an Ashfield apartment block who was putting out the bins last week.
They were follow-up letters from specialists at outpatients services and cancer care clinics at North Shore, Gosford and Dubbo Hospital and six private providers, including the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse Centre.
The correspondence dated from December and were meant to be sent out by a private transcription company, Global Transcription Services (GTS).
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said a sub-contractor of GTS, who is believed to have dumped the documents instead of stuffing them into envelopes for delivery, was a woman who had significant health problems that had "impacted on her decision-making".
Mr Hazzard said he was "very, very unhappy" about the situation, but an initial review suggested no public patients had been put at risk by the failure to send the letters.
However eight patients at Dubbo hospital had been identified as needing to have doctor's appointments or referrals brought forward.
"The department has treated it seriously and urgently," Mr Hazzard said.
"They have satisfied me at this point that patients are not at risk but certainly some have had a possibility — only a possibility — of their treatment being delayed."
Mr Hazzard said any urgent referrals or treatments that were needed would have been made at the time by specialists.
The Minister said he had asked for an external review into the processes of transcription services in NSW public health facilities.
His department has had preliminary discussions with consultants KPMG to conduct the review.
The State Opposition's health spokesman Walt Secord described the incident as "sloppy and dangerous" and said it was the latest bungle in a hospital system that lurched from crisis to crisis.
Mr Secord called for any KMPG review to be expanded to include private health facilities, saying for too long the State Government had washed its hands of any responsibility in the private sector.
This is the second privacy breach involving NSW Health documents that has come to light this year, after the ABC revealed patient records had been found in hospital carparks.
Comments