By Dionne Meehan
THE Data Protection Commission has opened an investigation into the Health Service Executive over a data breach which occurred in Donegal last year.
The DPC said the inquiry concerns the “storage” and “retention” of personal data contained in paper records held by the HSE via its use of an “external” storage facility.
This comes after footage of people accessing confidential medical files at a building to the rear of St Conal’s Hospital in Letterkenny appeared online in November, 2023.
In a video uploaded on the short-form video hosting app ‘Tik Tok’ an individual can be seen entering the building, locally known as the ‘new building’, and viewing the medical files stored there.
The content creator, who is well-known on Tik Tok and YouTube for “exploring abandoned and forgotten locations”, included close up shots of x-rays and patient medical files in his video.
In response to the incident, the HSE said they were made aware that historical patient files which date back several decades, which were stored in a locked facility in a HSE building, had been accessed.
Alerting gardaí to the incident in November 2023, the HSE said the building was reviewed by local HSE management following the incident
and additional security measures were fitted to further secure the building.
The HSE reported the incident to the Data Protection Commissioner in accordance with legislation.
In a statement this week, the DPC confirmed the breach related to a specific location which was accessed by “unauthorised” third parties and the circulation of videos taken from this location showing paper medical records located at the facility.
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