Health PEI contacts patients impacted by privacy breach

Health PEI has sent letters to people impacted by a breach of privacy that occurred at Prince County Hospital, involving patient medical records in the provincial electronic hospital record system.

Health PEI discovered this fall that an employee of the hospital had viewed patient records without permission. An initial investigation discovered the employee accessed 105 personal patient records from July 1 to October 15 of 2024. Privacy breaches of this nature are unacceptable. This employee has been terminated from their position with Health PEI.

“This is a terrible breach of privacy and should never have happened,” said Mel Fraser, CEO of Health PEI. “This individual broke the rules, violating the privacy and confidentiality of Islanders who entrust our health care system and our staff to safeguard their personal health information. I want to reassure the public we have measures in place to monitor staff access to patient information and we take action when privacy breaches are detected or reported.”

Health PEI takes the privacy of our patients, clients, and residents very seriously. Health PEI has several policies in place addressing confidentiality, code of conduct, and patient rights and responsibilities. All staff are provided with information and education on these policies when they first begin their employment with the health care system, as well as throughout their employment. All staff are also required to sign a confidentiality agreement at the time of hiring.

The breach has been reported to the PEI Information and Privacy Commissioner, who will review Health PEI’s response to the incident. The Health PEI Privacy Team is conducting further inquiries to understand the full scope of the breach. If further incidents of this kind are found, patients will be notified by Health PEI.
 

Media Contact:
Jessica Bruce
Senior Communications, Health PEI
jessicabruce@gov.pe.ca