Privacy breach under review

Ron Dunham.

A major review will get under way today to find out how the details of more than 600 women who had abortions in the central North Island were mistakenly released to a reporter.

Lakes District Health Board chief executive Ron Dunham said he had spoken to the National Health IT Board over the weekend and would be looking at measures to put in place to stop such a breach from happening again.

He said an 0800 helpline set up for women who were concerned their privacy had been breached hadn't received any calls. He said the helpline was expected to stay as they made women aware of the service.

Mr Dunham said the coded data mistakenly released included the National Health Index (NHI) number, date of birth and ethnicity of 625 women who have used the board's termination of pregnancy service.

"It's extremely unlikely anyone can decipher the information [to identify someone]. I can't do it for instance ... I have no idea which patients were involved."

He said the information was released to one person, and he had spoken to them to emphasise it was sent in error and they should destroy the information.

Mr Dunham said he was made aware of the breach on Friday and although it appeared to be a mistake by an individual, the health board would be looking at all its systems to ensure it didn't happen again.

He said he wanted to make sure the systems "challenged" those who were sending information out.

He said it was the first time there had been such a breach.

"It is terrible. We transfer information all the time and have to make sure our systems don't allow it to happen again."

Once an investigation was completed they would report back to the Privacy Commission.

The Ministry of Health is also investigating.

Those with concerns can call 0800 525 371.