Health staff ‘unnecessarily’ accessed info of teen who allegedly stabbed doctor

It’s been revealed how many times hospital staff ‘unnecessarily’ accessed the information of a teen accused of stabbing a doctor. Details + The number of breaches since a stern warning in June.

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Hospital workers inappropriately accessed the information of young patient, who allegedly stabbed a doctor, ten times in the days following the alleged incident, and it’s also been revealed how many times potential breaches have been reported since a sternly worded directive from the Department of Health secretary.

In October the Mercury revealed a formal direction had been issued for staff not to unnecessarily access patient records, after an audit found it was a “widespread” practice.

It’s understood the directive related to the alleged stabbing of a doctor at North West Regional Hospital by a 17-year-old patient on April 9.

The Mercury can now reveal how many times the teen’s file was accessed by staff, even though it was not related to their duties.

Information obtained via a right to information request revealed the patient’s information was inappropriately accessed by two staff on April 9, five staff the next day, two staff on April 11 and by one on April 12.

The Department of Health said April 12 was the most recent time the teen’s information was accessed when it was not supposed to have been.

North West Regional Hospital. Picture: PATRICK GEE

It said the audit was ongoing, and decisions had not yet been made on potential breaches.

Staff had been told all employees have a legal obligation to safeguard the personal, sensitive and health information of patients.

In June, a second direction went out to staff, this time from the department secretary, Kathrine Morgan-Wicks.

She told employees they may only access health information if it was required within their roles and that it was not a legitimate reason to access information simply because “it would be convenient or interesting to know”.

She said the sole reason of status, position or level of authority were not legitimate reasons for access.

Since that directive on June 2, the Mercury can reveal there have been more breaches of patient privacy.

The department said since June 6 there were 57 incidents investigated as part of the audit: two breaches were confirmed, 32 incidents were found to have not been in breach, 18 were identified as a “potential breach” and five were classed as “unknown”.

A breakdown of this information by hospital was requested but not provided.

In October the Mercury revealed there had only been a handful of employees in the department who had been reprimanded or dismissed for inappropriately accessing patients records.

A department spokesperson previously said inappropriate access of patient records was “taken very seriously”.

They said regular audits were undertaken of access to health information “to ensure the highest standards and safety are upheld”.

Originally published as Health staff ‘unnecessarily’ accessed info of teen who allegedly stabbed doctor