An investigation has been launched after the discovery of more than 1000 confidential medical records on the floor of a derelict building which used to be part of the Garrawarra Centre at Waterfall.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Labor’s Health spokesman Walt Secord has slammed the privacy breach, uncovered by ABC News, which he said was believed to be one of the largest of its kind in Australian history.
Mr Secord said he wanted a guarantee from the NSW government – which runs the centre – that all family members associated with the breach will be officially notified of the event.
He has described the haphazard disposal of medical records which date from 1992 to 2002 as “an absolute breach of trust”.
According to the ABC report, the documents at the derelict building discovered by a member of the public contained deeply intimate information of more than 400 patients’ profiles, medical conditions, behaviours, accidents, treatments and medical history.
Among the documents were pain and incontinence charts, confidential social worker reports, doctor’s referrals, hospital admission forms, a personal photo album, and an internal memo regarding a complaint from a daughter who was not notified when her father died.
“Medical records are incredibly sensitive. In many cases, you don’t even share them with your closest family members; that are why this is particularly disturbing,” Mr Secord said.
“Health must also give a commitment that they have contacted all the patients involved – if they are alive and if they are not, the Berejiklian Government must contact their closest loved ones.”
A NSW Health spokesperson said the department had been advised boxes of documents were being stored in a “decommissioned, locked, fenced building” at the site, which was decommissioned in the early 2000s and was signposted, warning of the presence of asbestos.
The spokesperson said the signage states ‘This area contains materials which may cause death or serious injury. Do not enter’.
“Following illegal trespass at the site, NSW Health was told some documents, potentially including individuals’ file notes, have been subject to criminal theft from the site and are in the possession of the ABC,” the spokesperson said.
“An urgent investigation is now underway into the centre’s document management and security systems, however it is upsetting individuals would illegally trespass and seek to damage and remove clearly identifiable NSW Health information.
“If it is found that any file notes have been inappropriately stored, the centre will be contacting individuals, or their families to apologise.
“The South Eastern Sydney Local Health District has informed police of the break-in and will seek its assistance in identifying any individuals who may have committed the offence of criminal trespass on the site.”
The ABC reports that its sources maintain that the site was not secured and had been accessed repeatedly by members of the public.
Meantime NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the records were left by a former Labor government.
“As a result of the finding of medical records deposited during the 16 years of Labor in what has proved to be inadequate secured premises, I have directed the Ministry of Health to instigate an audit of archived medical records,” he said.
“To those people whose medical records were put in such storage arrangements in the early 2000s I express my sincere apologies and can assure them and their families I will get NSW Health to do whatever I can to rectify the situation.”
Mr Secord said an independent external investigation was needed into the inappropriate disposal of records – not to apportion blame, but to prevent it happening again.
In 2015 and 2017, he said, patients’ medical records from the Central Coast Local Health District were also compromised – including some found in an abandoned car park.
