Staff left patient files on car roofs

The number of data protection breaches involving sensitive personal information held by the HSE almost doubled to 212 last year, internal documents have revealed.

The incidents included two cases in which staff members left patients’ records on the roof of their cars before driving away, and one case in which Tusla files were found in an empty building during renovations.

In another data breach, a doctor attached to Mental Health Services in Wexford left confidential records relating to patients in an apartment he had vacated. They were discovered by a new tenant and later returned to the HSE.