Police raid office over medical data breach

POLICE in the Philippines have seized the entire office of a company linked to the Irish patient records scandal and have been given a month to search for evidence that private information was used for fraud.

The Irish Examiner has learned that a court-ordered “police raid” has resulted in “all electronic equipment and data” — including the online firm’s server — being confiscated.

The southeast Asian country’s National Bureau of Investigations has until September 7 to examine the potential evidence, which is believed to include patient records from Tallaght Hospital. Sixty Irish hospitals and doctors have been told their records may also be involved.

The move took place in conjunction with the gardaí, Tallaght Hospital’s IT director and the office of the British information commissioner. It was given the go-ahead after it emerged that highly-sensitive patient records from the facility had fallen into “inappropriate hands”.

The records include the names, dates of birth, addresses, contact details and medical histories/conditions of patients since 2004.

They were obtained after being sent as audio files to online private transcription firm UScribe. In the wrong hands, this information can be used to defraud the individuals in question.

The records were to be typed up and sent back to Tallaght Hospital, a move which was done externally to save costs.

However, a number of the records were not sent back to Ireland or were copied for unknown reasons.

Until recently, UScribe, which has offices in Florida, London and Dublin, was based in the Philippines.

However, it recently closed down that office with a new company taking up the space.

This firm was the subject of the Filipino police raid. Investigators are also trying to ascertain if it is linked in any way to Uscribe.

A source close to the investigation said there is no reason why this firm should have any information connected to Tallaght Hospital or any other Irish client of UScribe on its system.

If it does, this will add to evidence that patient data was used for inappropriate purposes, the source said.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, Tallaght Hospital’s acting chief executive John O’Connell said if there is any proof of illegal acts the perpetrators will be “pursued in all appropriate jurisdictions”.

To date, the only confirmed security breach relates to Tallaght Hospital.

However, sources have said it would be “highly unusual” for no other Irish client to be involved.

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