Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) announced that eight employees have been terminated following a privacy breach in which the personal information of approximately 4,000 patients was inappropriately accessed. The breach was discovered during an investigation conducted by HHS, which found that there is no evidence suggesting that the accessed information was printed, downloaded, or shared electronically.
The hospital system has taken immediate action by terminating all eight employees involved in the breach. HHS has also issued letters to the affected patients and notified the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. Additionally, the regulatory colleges of the former employees have been notified.
Aaron Levo, the vice-president of People, Culture, and Communications at HHS, expressed sincere apologies to the patients impacted by the breach. He confirmed that the incident is not in line with the values of HHS and its staff and physicians.
HHS emphasizes the importance of patient privacy and ensures that all staff members are trained and educated to protect this right. The organization constantly looks for opportunities to improve its practices and minimize the risk of privacy breaches. Policies, systems, and processes are in place to prevent such breaches, including privacy training during onboarding, routine and random audits of information access, and ongoing reviews of hospital systems and information-sharing practices.
It is expected that all HHS staff, physicians, and learners adhere to these policies, as well as the requirements of their regulatory colleges and provincial privacy legislation.
HHS remains committed to maintaining the privacy and security of patient information and will continue to implement measures to prevent future breaches.