Sturgeon imposes strict rules on patient records

HEALTH boards across Scotland were yesterday ordered to tighten up procedures for storing and disposing of patients' files following the discovery of personal medical records at a disused hospital in Tayside.

Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, issued stringent new rules to protect patient privacy after publication of a damning report into the discovery at the former Strathmartine Hospital on the outskirts of Dundee.

The documents found at the abandoned hospital, once used to care for people with learning disabilities, included the names of patients and their medications, information about a child with foetal alcohol syndrome and details about the adoption of a young girl.

The report by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland condemns NHS Tayside for a series of failures which resulted in the records being left behind after the hospital buildings were sold to a property developer. Dr Adam Bryson, the chairman of the expert group appointed to carry out the investigation, states: "There was an apparent lack of project management, planning and leadership in closing the Strathmartine Hospital site. There was no documented audit trail of the way in which records and other personal identifiable information was handled and the govern-ance arrangements for ensuring complete and effective clearance of the site were not clear.

"The closure appears to have been dogged by poor communication and a lack of ownership of issues leading to timely practical actions being taken to address them."

Ms Sturgeon said she had accepted all the recommendations by the review group made for tightening procedures, noting: "Although this was an isolated incident, breaches of data security should not be happening at all. Patients deserve to know their right to confidentiality will be protected by people who care for their health.

"That means some rules need to be tightened and, just as importantly, that NHS staff need to be aware of exactly what their responsibilities are when it comes to information that can identify patients."

The new protocols include banning health boards from using disused buildings for storage of any health records or personal identifiable information.

A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said: "We will be adopting all recommendations contained in the Strathmartine report. We have conducted our own extensive internal investigation and have already undertaken a huge amount of work to ensure all our records management policies and procedures are as robust as possible. "