Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSMedical records breach investigated at hospital
A hospital is under investigation after it was discovered that boxes of medical records had been left lying for days in a corridor.
Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital is the subject of a top-level inquiry over the incident, which was brought to the attention of Labour’s health spokesman, Cathy Jamieson, by a concerned visitor.
The visitor sent Ms Jamieson photographs of 30 crates filled with records which had been left unattended in a corridor to which patients and the public had access. The boxes are understood to have contained patients’ medical records and medical histories.
Ms Jamieson said: ‘I was absolutely appalled when I first saw these pictures.
‘Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon needs to take the security of confidential patient records much more seriously.
‘It is totally unacceptable for unsealed boxes containing private documents to be left in a corridor that is open to patients and members of the public.’
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde commented: ‘We are extremely concerned to learn of a serious situation which could have given rise to a breach in our medical records security protocols.’
The board added that its chief executive, Robert Calderwood, had pledged action to improve procedures if shortcomings are identified.
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment.
Online training units, written and reviewed by experts. Earn two hours' CPD and a personalised certificate for your portfolio.
Subscribers get five FREE learning units and non-subscribers can access each learning unit for £10 + VAT.
Share
Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 8-Apr-2009 9:32 am
This does not surprise me in the slightest, the NHS presents as getting worse not getting better, the level of confidentiality is outrageous, from my own point of view my friends patient records have gone missing from the main computer system that holds all the documentation that have been scanned into it. My friend holds more correspondance at home than is in his medical records, what has gone wrong with the system and why does this incompetance not surprise us as a patient who is entitlied to health records that it has gone missing. What happens if any professional was called to court where is the documentation to prove that the correct care was given to the patient at the correct time, the correct diagnosis and correct treatment, will this stand up in a court of law? What ihappens next? Whose fault is it? There are so many questions to ask!!!
Unsuitable or offensive?