Tallaght Hospital in Dublin has now admitted that patient medical records have been the subject of unauthorised access and disclosure.
In a letter to hospital consultants on outsourcing the transcription of patient medical reports and letters for GPs, the hospital has also conceded that while it was the policy not to identify patients, this policy has not always been followed.
On 23 July, RTÉ News revealed that the hospital had reported a potential data security breach to the Data Protection Commissioner, however afterwards the hospital said these were ‘unsubstantiated allegations’ and that it had no evidence of disclosure.
Since 2004, the hospital has been using a private firm to transcribe some medical reports and letters for GPs.
That firm was sending the material to its offices in the Philippines for transcription.
Tallaght Hospital says that some letters which were dictated did not come back transcribed and while it was hospital policy to keep information sheets for each letter, this practice was not always followed.
Read more on RTÉ News. Kudos to the paper for staying on this.