St Vincent’s Hospital apologises after 400 sent Covid text wrongly telling them they are negative

A hospital has apologised after 400 Covid cases were wrongly sent a text telling them they were negative when they actually returned a positive result.

Hundreds of people have wrongly been sent a text message telling them they are Covid negative, when they are positive.

St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney issued an apology on Boxing Day, saying the situation was believed to have been caused by human error.

“SydPath last night incorrectly messaged more than 400 people, advising them they had tested negative to Covid,” the hospital said in a statement on Sunday.

“These people had tested positive to Covid.

“As soon as we became aware of the issue this morning, SydPath immediately commenced a process to contact impacted people.”

The hospital said an emergency response team was now investigating the cause of this mistake, which is believed to have been human error.

“We sincerely apologise to all those impacted,” the hospital continued.

SydPath medical director Professor Anthony Dodds addressing media on Sunday. Source: Facebook

SydPath medical director Professor Anthony Dodds said the mistake happened as the organisation dealt with large volumes of tests.

“Owing to the very large volume of tests that we’ve been contending with at SydPath, last night, we incorrectly messaged 400 patients who had been swabbed at our centres from December 22nd and December 23rd, advising them they had tested negative to Covid,” Professor Dodds told reporters on Sunday.

“These people in fact had tested positive to Covid.

“As soon as we became aware of this issue this morning, SydPath immediately commenced the process to contact these impacted individuals.

“We sincerely apologise for the mistake that has been made.”

Professor Dodds added no sailors in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race are believed to be caught up in this group of impacted people.