A Dublin children’s hospital has had a “serious data-protection breach” after a patient’s healthcare record was “misplaced”, a memo sent to staff said.
It comes in the same week as an unannounced inspection by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) following concerns about the accessibility of patient charts in a shared office at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Tallaght.
On Friday, Sarah Hartnett, data-protection officer at CHI, sent a memo to all staff members entitled “misplaced healthcare records”.
“A healthcare record has recently been reported misplaced at CHI. Despite a thorough search process, the original record has not been recovered,” the memo said.
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“In accordance with our statutory obligations, this incident has been reported to the Data Protection Commission”.
According to Ms Hartnett, this is a “serious data-protection breach and a reminder of the critical importance of following all healthcare record procedures”.
“Staff must strictly comply with the HSE standards for healthcare records management and CHI data-protection policies”.
Separately, the DPC carried out an unannounced inspection at CHI Tallaght last week on foot of a complaint.
The inspection took place in a shared office for non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) on the first floor of the hospital.
It is understood the door to the shared office, containing hundreds of patient charts, was propped open – making it accessible to people walking by. When closed properly, the door is locked with a keypad.
Dr Turlough Bolger, a consultant in emergency medicine, sent an email to staff at the hospital on Thursday morning, the day after the inspection.
“The report will be received in the coming weeks but they expressed concern regarding the number of charts in the room yesterday (approx 320 charts) and the amount of loose pages with patient details,” his email states.
“I expect that the recommendations will be wide-ranging and damaging to CHI at Tallaght.”
Dr Bolger said he appreciates the “hard work” made by staff to reduce the number of outstanding discharge charts in recent weeks, which has seen a “significant reduction” from 900 to 600 charts.
“I have said repeatedly that there needs to be a sustainable approach to this issue. Ultimately, as the accountable officer in CHI at Tallaght, I am responsible for the overall situation regarding medical records.”
Dr Bolger said as the accountable officer, he “cannot rely on blitzes to clear backlogs as routine”.
In order to clear the current backlog, Dr Bolger said he had requested that four NCHDs be allocated to discharges daily. He added that there was a need for “an emphasis on the use of the confidential shredding bin for most of the loose pages”.
A spokesman for the DPC confirmed a team carried out an inspection at CHI Tallaght last week.
“Enquiries relating to this inspection are ongoing at present,” the spokesman said. “We are not in a position to provide any further comment at this time.”
In relation to the unannounced inspection, a spokeswoman for CHI said a data breach “has not been confirmed at this time” and the inspection related to a “potential data breach”.
“Immediate measures have been taken to reduce any potential risk, including reinforcing physical safeguards and engaging directly with staff,” the spokeswoman said.
“Additional actions will follow, as appropriate, in line with our internal procedures and any recommendations issued by the DPC as part of its broader oversight.”
The spokeswoman added that CHI is transitioning to a “fully digital health records system and, once complete, this will significantly reduce reliance on paper charts”.
CHI has faced significant public and political scrutiny in recent months, particularly in relation to the governance and oversight of its paediatric orthopaedic services.
