Hamilton’s Paramedic Service mistakenly sent patient info to wrong hospitals

The Hamilton Paramedic Service says it has been mistakenly sending the personal information of some of its patients to the wrong hospital.

Over the last four years, according to the municipal healthcare service, some paramedics have accidentally selected the incorrect hospital when submitting a patient’s records in correspondence to where they were being transported.

An out-of-city hospital flagged the issue in late October after they received patient records for someone who wasn’t in their care.

Once the Hamilton Paramedic Service was made aware of the issue, it began an internal review to determine the cause and extent of the breach.

According to a spokesperson with the City of Hamilton, 306,000 patient health records were looked over during the audit.

Of those 306,000 records, it was determined that only 162 patients were affected.

No personal information was ever made publicly available.

READ MORE: City of Hamilton data breach included home addresses, phone numbers

The city says that any personal records that were mistakenly shared were only ever held by other hospitals and have since been destroyed.

A spokesperson with the City of Hamilton says the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has been notified and that employees with the paramedic service are notifying the affected individuals of the breach and issuing an apology.

The slow trickle of personal information has prompted an overhaul of how city paramedics process personal patient information.

New measures are being incorporated that aim to prevent this kind of mistake from happening again, such as GPS validation, improved controls and modifications to the electronic patient care records system, the city says.

“The Hamilton Paramedic Service is committed to a high standard of patient privacy and confidentiality,” Hamilton Paramedic Service Chief Michael Sanderson said. “On behalf of the Service, I would like to extend my deepest apologies to the affected patients who entrusted their care and health information to us.”

The news comes just weeks after the city had to notify the Privacy Commissioner following an earlier data breach from its General Issues Committee when the personal home addresses and emails of at least 50 delegates were accidentally made public.

READ MORE: Privacy Commissioner notified in wake of data breach at Hamilton city hall