More than 200 people affected by privacy breaches at Nova Scotia Health
Another privacy breach at Nova Scotia Health has affected more than 200 people.
In a release Tuesday, the province's health authority said they are contacting 211 people by letter whose personal health information was "inappropriately accessed" in two unrelated incidents.
No details of these breaches were provided in the release. The authority said they will be available to discuss specific details of the breaches only with those who are directly affected.
"We apologize to everyone whose private information was viewed and to Nova Scotians in general, who entrust our organization and its people with care of their health and safeguarding of their personal health information," the release said.
The province's privacy commissioner has been notified, and Nova Scotia Health said they will work with the office on any recommendations they may suggest as a result of these breaches.
The authority said takes several steps to ensure that all their employees understand appropriate access to medical information and keeping it confidential. They also monitor access and identify inappropriate activity.
Nova Scotia Health said they take any breach of confidentiality seriously. Although they are "extremely disappointed" these breaches have occurred, "we maintain confidence in the ethical practices of employees throughout our organization."
This is the latest privacy breach to happen in the health authority.
According to a CBC report last May, there have been almost 100 privacy breaches per month on average at Nova Scotia Health in recent years.
There were 2,562 reports of privacy violations of patients, employees, contractors and volunteers between Oct. 1, 2016 and December 31, 2018.
MORE TOP STORIES
