Patient documents missing, reportedly lost in ‘a gust of wind’

Written by

Privacy Foundation NZ

Published on

February 28, 2019

News

Joanne Carroll

Stuff, 28 February 2019

www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/110908726/privacy-breach-as-300-patient-files-go-missing

The Canterbury and West Coast District Health Board are currently investigating what they are calling a “potential privacy breach” following a member of the public finding documents, in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby, containing the personal information of West Coast DHB patients on February 11. The documents that were found were only part of the forty that were misplaced by a West Coast DHB staff member when they were transferred to Christchurch. Altogether, these documents contain the medical information of over 300 patients, some of which have been known to have received delayed treatment as a result.