North District Hospital announces incident of suspected loss of patient data
****************************************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson for North District Hospital (NDH) made the following announcement today (March 13) regarding an incident of suspected loss of patient data:
NDH received a report from a house officer yesterday evening (March 12) that a list containing the personal information of 34 inpatients including names, identity card numbers, ages, sex, and involved specialties had been lost. The list does not involve any other clinical data.
A preliminary investigation showed that the house officer printed a list with patients’ information on the morning of March 8 and brought it along to facilitate clinical duties. He was then assigned to assist in escorting a critically ill patient to Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) for further management and returned to NDH by taxi. The patient list was suspected to be lost afterwards.
The house officer subsequently informed the staff in PWH to assist in searching for the list. As of March 12, the patient list could not be located within the hospital premises and is suspected to have been lost during the taxi journey. NDH is very concerned about the incident and conducted a thorough search again within the relevant hospital premises after receiving the report last evening, but the search was in vain. The hospital has reported the incident to the Police, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System.
All staff have been reminded to properly keep and handle patients’ records. A patient list with personal information should not be brought outside the hospital. NDH has notified the patients and their families concerned to express their apologies and explain the incident. Clinical services have not been affected.
