Privacy breach: HIV patient’s private details leaked at Shoalhaven Hospital

Recycled paper at a NSW hospital detailed a patient’s name, address, HIV status and pathology results in a massive privacy breach now under investigation.

Patient pathology results are being recycled as scrap notepaper at Shoalhaven Hospital, triggering a massive privacy breach.

The breach was uncovered by Glenice Maxwell, who attended the Shoalhaven emergency department on March 17 after her GP referred her for a more accurate blood pressure check. Her reading was written out by the attending nurse on a scrap of recycled note paper.

On the back of the notepaper the name, address, phone number and HIV-­positive status of a man, ­including the details of his urine sample done by South Eastern Area Laboratory, was detailed.

“I was stunned, I couldn’t believe it,” Ms Maxwell said. “Anyone who is going in there for a blood test, urine culture, anything is possible if they are guillotining up copies of path reports to use as scrap paper, anything is possible. “It’s pretty scary, if that is one breach, what else is going on.”

Glenice Maxwell (right) received her test reading on the back of another patient's pathology results.

Ms Maxwell, 60, emailed the hospital’s administration and its chief executive to alert them to the breach on March 17 but has not heard back.

“It’s been six weeks, there has been no response or acknowledgment from the Shoalhaven Hospital,” she said.

“I was gobsmacked when I realised what had happened, I mean this poor bloke.”

The Sunday Telegraph contacted the man in question who said he was shocked at the breach. “It’s terrible, disgraceful. You expect better, everything is supposed to be private … I’d like more than an apology,” he said, adding he would seek legal advice.

When contacted by The Sunday Telegraph, the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District asked for the man’s ­details so they could alert him to the breach.

NSW Health is bound by the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 framework that includes protecting the privacy of an individual’s health information that is held in the public and private sectors.

If a person believes their privacy has been breached by a NSW government agency, ­including a public hospital, they have a right under NSW privacy law to request the Privacy Commissioner to conduct an internal privacy ­review.

A spokeswoman for the ­Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District said they were in the process of contacting the man to apologise.

“All staff in our hospitals are bound by privacy legislation to safeguard patient confidentiality, but on this occasion, human error has resulted in a breach,” she said.

“Staff in the emergency ­department deeply regret any upset this error has caused and have further tightened the ­already strict privacy protocols in place.”

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Originally published as Privacy breach: HIV patient’s private details leaked at Shoalhaven Hospital