A Labour senator has called for an urgent probe into how the private medical records of 11 patients ended up in a front garden.
The discovery was described as a ‘serious violation of patients rights and privacy’ on Wednesday.
Labour Senator Ged Nash stressed the find 1km away from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, is the latest in a series of data breaches.
In February 2018, consultant notes were found on a street in Drogheda containing the names and addresses of 18 patients.
The local politician, who has called for a probe by the Data Protection Commissioner, said a constituent contacted him earlier this week.
He said: “These documents were found in this lady’s garden while she was doing a clean-up on Monday.
“She picked up these pieces of paper and on closer inspection it became clear they were personal, confidential, very sensitive pieces of patient information.
“They appeared to me to be handover notes written possibly in the emergency department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital on the 11th of April.
“It’s just the latest in a series of data breaches that I’ve been made aware of in the context of the [facility].”
He added: “This is a serious violation of patients rights and patients privacy, it’s very serious indeed.”
He told RTE’s Morning Ireland the patients ranged in age from 36 years to 90 years with a multitude of different conditions.
Senator Nash continued: “One can only imagine how distressed someone would be if they were in the emergency department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital that day and they may assume that their notes were made available to others on this basis.
He said the constituent contacted him and asked him what to do and he advised her to contact the hospital immediately.
The Drogheda man added: “Lady of Lourdes Hospital acted very quickly when they were made aware of this information and those notes were returned.
“An apology indeed was made to the woman who brought this to the hospital’s attention.”
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Seantor Nash said the important thing now is the next steps and what needs to happen.
He added: “The Data Commission Investigation Commissioner needs to investigate this very urgently because this is not the first time that confidence in data management at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital has been affected.
Senator Nash also insisted the individuals and their families need to be met personally by senior hospital management to explain what happened.
A HSE spokeswoman said: “The HSE very much appreciates the prompt action of this person in informing us of this breach. We take all breakdowns of our data protection policies and procedures very seriously and a full investigation is under way by the local Data Protection Office. That office has been in contact with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.
“A full Data Protection Audit of Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital will be conducted in the coming weeks to ascertain any control weaknesses that may exist and put in place remedial actions as appropriate.”
