The UL Hospitals Group has issued a written apology to over 1,000 patients in Clare, Tipperary & Limerick affected by a data breach which took place in January.
What’s described as an unintended disclosure happened when a member of staff sent an email in error to an unknown third party outside of the HSE.
The data breach concerns approximately 1,066 patients who attended the gastroenterology services at Ennis, Nenagh, St.John’s Hospitals & University Hospital of Limerick between 2018 & January of 2023.
The unintentional disclosure took place on the 24th of January last when a member of staff sent an email in error to an unknown third party outside of the HSE.
A file attached to the email included patient names, dates of birth, medical chart numbers and limited medical information.
In a statement on their website, The UL Hospitals Group confirmed that no personal contact details, such as patient phone numbers or email addresses, were disclosed in the breach.
The group took immediate action to recall the email and recover the data , however these efforts proved to be unsucessful.
The incident was subsequently reported to the Data Protection Commissioner on January 31st.
The UL Hospitals Group has apologised to patients for an ‘inadvertent’ breach of their data, while a support line has been set up to adress any queries.
The breach affects gastroenterology patients only and those affected are being advised not to contact the department in relation to the disclosure to ensure the lines remain free for service users.
In a separate statement to Clare FM, The UL Hospitals Group confirmed that staff training has taken place in response to the the incident to ensure staff awareness of General Data Protection Regulations .
Additionally new procedures have been implemented to improve the safety and security of personal data.
