Hamilton Paramedic Service sent patient info to wrong hospitals

pFirst PublishedppThe Hamilton Paramedic Service says it has been mistakenly sending the personal information of some of its patients to the wrong hospitalppOver the last four years according to the municipal healthcare service some paramedics have accidentally selected the incorrect hospital when submitting a patients records in correspondence to where they were being transportedppAn outofcity hospital flagged the issue in late October after they received patient records for someone who wasnt in their careppOnce the Hamilton Paramedic Service was made aware of the issue it began an internal review to determine the cause and extent of the breachppAccording to a spokesperson with the City of Hamilton 306000 patient health records were looked over during the auditppOf those 306000 records it was determined that only 162 patients were affectedppNo personal information was ever made publicly availableppREAD MORE City of Hamilton data breach included home addresses phone numbersppThe city says that any personal records that were mistakenly shared were only ever held by other hospitals and have since been destroyedppA spokesperson with the City of Hamilton says the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has been notified and that employees with the paramedic service are notifying the affected individuals of the breach and issuing an apologyppThe slow trickle of personal information has prompted an overhaul of how city paramedics process personal patient informationppNew measures are being incorporated that aim to prevent this kind of mistake from happening again such as GPS validation improved controls and modifications to the electronic patient care records system the city saysppThe Hamilton Paramedic Service is committed to a high standard of patient privacy and confidentiality Hamilton Paramedic Service Chief Michael Sanderson said On behalf of the Service I would like to extend my deepest apologies to the affected patients who entrusted their care and health information to usppThe news comes just weeks after the city had to notify the Privacy Commissioner following an earlier data breach from its General Issues Committee when the personal home addresses and emails of at least 50 delegates were accidentally made publicppREAD MORE Privacy Commissioner notified in wake of data breach at Hamilton city hallppCHCHTV started broadcasting in 1954 and is proud to be the news leader for Hamilton and the surrounding Halton and Niagara regionspp All rights reserved chchp