‘Urgent’ HSE report demanded by data commissioner

THE Data Protection Commissioner has demanded an “urgent report” from the HSE into how hundreds of confidential hospital patient files could end up in a disused dump outside Cork city.

A statement issued yesterday by the commissioner’s office confirmed it had learned via the Irish Examiner of the discovery of medical files at a former landfill near the village of Glounthaune.

The commissioner was subsequently informed of the situation by the HSE.

Noting that Cork County Council and the HSE have launched investigations, the office said it had requested “an urgent report” from the HSE.

“There is a heavy duty on organisations to dispose of personal records in a secure manner,” said the Data Protection Commissioner’s office. “Medical records constitute ‘sensitive personal data’ under the Data Protection Acts and are entitled to extra protection.”

The comments echoed a code of conduct from the National Hospital’s Office which places the onus on hospitals to ensure medical records are disposed of appropriately and that there is no risk to patient confidentiality.

“From our office’s perspective, the main priority is to safely recover the files in question and destroy them securely if they are no longer required. This would eliminate the immediate source of distress to the patients concerned and their families.”

The Data Protection Commissioner’s office also said it wants to ensure that the discovery of dumped files near Glounthaune was “an isolated incident” and that proper procedures are put in place to guard against any repetition.

“We worked closely with the HSE on the development of the National Hospitals Office Code of Practice on Healthcare Records. The HSE’s work on the code demonstrated its commitment to live up to its obligations under the Data Protection Acts... This incident highlights the importance of the code being fully put into practice in the day-to-day work of hospitals.”

Meanwhile, Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly described the discovery of confidential files of hospital patients in fields in Cork as revealed in yesterday’s Irish Examiner as “horrendous”.

“That is a hugely disturbing matter because the records are so intensely sensitive,” she said.

Ms O’Reilly said the Irish Examiner had quite properly kept the names of individual patients out of the newspaper. The information commissioner said she was aware that the HSE had been endeavouring to put protocols in place for the management of records. However, Ms O’Reilly expressed concern that there was still an “ad hoc” approach to the issue of keeping records in many areas of the healthcare services. “Record management sounds like a dry subject and it is until you see the potential public and personal impact of having your records found dumped and exposed in the manner in which was reported in the Irish Examiner,” she said.