Two lists containing information of Letterkenny General Hospital patients found by the public

• The hospital retrieved both the lists containing patient information and contacted each patient to inform them about the incident and apologize.
• The first list was found in refuse by a litter warden in March 2019 and was handed over to the management.

Two lists containing the details of 33 patients from a Letterkenny General Hospital were found dumped in Letterkenny in both March and May.

What happened?

Saolta University Healthcare Group, the organization that manages the hospital confirmed the privacy breach and notified the Data Protection Commissioner’s office about the incident.

• The first list was found in refuse by a litter warden in March 2019 and was handed over to the management.
• The second list was found off-site by a member of the public in May 2019.

The response

The hospital retrieved both the lists containing patient information and contacted each patient to inform them about the incident and apologize.

“LUH takes all breaches of Data Protection seriously and all such cases are managed in line with HSE policy,” a spokesperson for Letterkenny General Hospital said. “The hospital has very clear data protection guidelines in place and staffs are regularly advised of their responsibility to protect patient data,” he added.

A Local councilor said that the extent of this breach impacts patient confidentiality. He added that this type of incident where lists and medical files belonging to patients that are found dumped in streets are increasing.

“It seems to be getting bigger and bigger. These are the ones we know about but how many more lists and files are out there blowing around the streets with personal medical details of patients on them,” he added.