The HSE is investigating the discovery of medical records from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in the garden of a housing estate in Drogheda a d has reported the incident to the Date Protection Commissioner.
A Data Protection Audit of the hospital is also to be carried out following the incident, which is the fifth data breach to occur at the hospital in the past three years
Yesterday, five pages of medical records with sensitive medical and personal information relating to ten patients was discovered by a homeowner in her garden in the Brookville Park Estate, which is a ten-minute walk from the hospital
The woman contacted local Senator Ged Nash, who advised her to contact the hospital.
A staff member quickly came to her home to retrieve the documents.
In a statement, the HSE said it takes data breaches very seriously and an investigation into the incident is under way.
It said it had reported to incident to the Data Protection Commissioner and that the Data Protection Audit at Our Lady of Lourdes will aim to identify any weaknesses that may exist and put in place any remedial actions needed
The Data Protection Commissioner has said it is liaising with the HSE about the discovery and is currently assessing the breach notification.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Labour Senator Mr Nash called on the hospital to tell the ten patients involved that a breach has taken place and to meet with the patients involved.
He said data breaches were now becoming routine at the hospital and need to be investigated.
It is at least the fifth time that a data breach involving documents has taken place in the hospital in recent times.
Last year several pages of a consultant’s report were found in the vicinity of the hospital.
In 2016, there were three separate data breaches relating to documents being founding around the hospital.
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