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Privacy breach at Burns Lake hospital

Approximately 150 people were affected
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A privacy breach has recently occurred at the Lakes District Hospital and Health Centre in Burns Lake.

Approximately 150 people were affected.

“We are notifying individuals whose health information was inappropriately accessed by an employee,” explained Eryn Collins, a spokesperson for Northern Health.

This employee is no longer employed by Northern Health.

“We had received a complaint about the privacy breach, so we began an investigation,” said Collins. “We are issuing notification letters that include details that relate to the patients that have been impacted.”

Northern Health’s investigation has determined that while there was inappropriate access to information, it is not believed that it was for the intent of fraud or identify theft.

“So we are simply letting the affected individuals know; we don’t believe any additional steps need to be taken by those patients,” said Collins.

Northern Health has also notified the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C. about the breach.

“We know that we have a responsibility to protect the personal information of our patients and we take any violation of that very seriously,” said Collins. “If anyone has any additional concerns, the letters we sent out contain information on how to contact Northern Health’s privacy department, as well as the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C.”


 

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