A woman told of her shock after receiving two different medical files containing separate patients’ STI results and a mental health diagnosis.
Rachel Healy, 38, from Co Cork, said she received a medical file via email on August 5 from Union Quay Medical Centre in Co Cork which was not hers.
The file contained the patient’s personal details including occupation and address but also detailed the woman’s mental health history.
Nine days later on August 14, Ms Healy received STI results not belonging to her via email from myclinic.ie, a Dublin GP practice.
Labour Party leader Alan Kelly branded the blunders “deeply concerning” and said the Data Protection Commission must investigate the matter.
Ms Healy told the Irish Mirror she deleted the file she received on August 5, however, when she received a second file with STI results from a different GP practice nine days later, she felt compelled to address it publicly.
She said: “After receiving both files within nine days I started to think, 'has my medical information from any practice ever gone to someone it shouldn’t have?'
“Ireland is so small. If I had wanted to, I had all of that woman’s information and I could have contacted her or if the file got into the wrong hands it could have appeared on social media.
“I would never want to jeopardize someone’s career and I’m very aware of the pressures that the medical profession are currently under including the administration side but two cases in nine days said to me something had to be said publicly.”
Ms Healy said the file she received from myclinic.ie contained the results of a full STI check-up.
She said: “I believe it’s easy for patients to receive stuff via email but I don’t think medical results or medical information should be in any way emailed to people.
“If you have to send information like that, post it.”
In a statement, Union Quay Medical Centre in Cork said it has issued a full explanation and apology to the patient involved.
The practice said they had taken corrective action including an investigation as to how the incident occurred and a data breach report to the data protection commissioner.
They said to ensure it would not happen again a full review of GDPR protocols and additional training for all staff would take place in the coming days.
The statement read: “The conclusion of this investigation is that one of our administrative team released patient information to the incorrect patient in error and unfortunately failed to alert the management team.”
Separately, myclinic.ie in a statement said: “Like any GP practice we adhere to all GDPR laws and guidelines and handle our patient records with the highest level of sensitivity.
“We cannot comment on individual patient cases.”
Labour leader Alan Kelly said it’s “essential” the bodies that represent doctors, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) and the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) review protocols.
He said: “It’s deeply concerning that a woman would mistakenly receive not one, but two medical files that weren’t her own.
“The Data Protection Commission must investigate this.
“It is essential that a body like the IMO or ICGP review protocols in place for the release of medical records by GP practices to ensure that there are enough checks that this doesn’t happen again.
“We all accept mistakes can happen but this is highly sensitive and personal medical information and should not be released to the wrong person.
“This wasn’t an isolated incident as it happened across two different practices.”
Sinn Fein’s health spokesman, David Cullinane, said: “This serious breach of privacy and data protection regulations is highly concerning.
“If we are to build a health service that delivers for patients, they need to be able to trust that system.
“Incidents such as this undermines that trust and the guarantee of privacy that everyone is entitled to.”
