Patient files found in secondhand filing cabinet

Over 100 data protection breaches involving sensitive personal information held by the HSE occurred during a recent 12-month period, internal documents have revealed.

Medical notes being sent to the wrong patients, letters going missing from a consultant’s clinic, and a patient’s chart being left on a garden wall are among the litany of breaches detailed in the report.

As many as 16 laptops and phones containing confidential data were also reported lost or stolen by staff working for the HSE, according to documentation obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.