[BreachExchange] Private patient records fall off truck near Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital

[Destry Winant]

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/private-patient-records-fall-off-truck-near-royal-brisbane-and-women-s-hospital-20190626-p521iv.html

The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital has defended its handling of a
situation where over a thousand confidential patient records fell off
the back of a truck, spilling them across a busy inner-city road.

The incident happened last Thursday when a private contractor tasked
with removing the documents for routine destruction spilled a number
of boxes across Abbotsford Road at Bowen Hills.

It was witnessed by members of the public and the hospital was
notified shortly after, sending a number of staff to retrieve the
documents.

“The hospital was notified at the time the incident occurred and
responded immediately and secured all those documents,” RBWH executive
director David Rosengren said.

“We have no evidence of any sort to suggest that any of those
documents have not been retrieved and we are very confident there has
been a full recovery of all the information involved.”

Dr Rosengren said there had been a "comprehensive" sweep of the area
to ensure all the documents were retrieved, which included a
"collaboration" with a number of local businesses.

He refused to specify whether the patient information was from the
obstetrics and gynaecology department, but said it had come from
“outpatient clinics”.

“The information varied - some of it has patient names on it, some
information relates to clinical appointments, and some of it involves
referral letters,” he said.

“But I want to stress that under no circumstances have any full
medical records been involved in this process.”

Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said she was outraged on
behalf of the female patients potentially affected and accused the
state government of sitting on the incident.

“The fact that Labor have tried to cover this up for almost a week and
didn’t come clean about losing these sensitive medical records is
simply not good enough," Ms Frecklington said in a statement.

“Patients should have been contacted as a first priority but instead
all Labor have done is try to cover up this major fail."

The state government does not have direct jurisdiction over the
day-to-day running of RBWH, which is operated by Metro North, one of
the state's 16 hospital and health services that were set up under the
previous LNP government.

Dr Rosengren confirmed the hospital had only on Wednesday started to
personally contacted patients affected by the incident, nearly a week
after it happened.

However, he denied suggestions the incident was made public on
Wednesday because journalists had made inquiries about it.

“The hospital, working proactively with the privacy commissioner’s
advice, made a statement today information everyone,” he said.

“It’s very important we have the appropriate information we can assure
the public about before we generate unnecessary concern.”

Anyone who attended the RBWH as an outpatient over the last month who
is concerned about their personal information can call (07) 3646 8216
or email RBWH-PLS at health.qld.gov.au

Queensland Health routinely destroys documents it is not required to
archive, outlined in the policy on its website.