Staff inappropriately accessed medical records on Charlie Stevens

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A number of health workers in South Australia have been found to have "inappropriately" accessed the medical records of a patient. ABC News now understands the patient to be the son of the state's police commissioner.

Transcript

00:00Well, this investigation came about following the death of Charlie Stevens. He was the 18-year-old

00:07son of Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, and he suffered an irreversible brain damage

00:12following a hit-and-run crash on South Australia's south coast during schoolies celebrations

00:17last November. He later died at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide's south. Now, back

00:23in July, the ABC News exclusively reported that SA Health was investigating 18 staff

00:29over allegations they had inappropriately accessed his medical records. Of those, 10

00:35had been suspended. But investigations have taken months, and today SA Health released

00:41a statement to say that eight staff members had been found to have inappropriately accessed

00:47his medical records. They had resigned, but had they not resigned earlier, SA Health would

00:52have terminated their employment anyway. The statement said that a further 10 staff

00:58members were found to have engaged in misconduct, that also inappropriately accessed the records,

01:03and a number of sanctions had been issued to them, whether that be through formal reprimands

01:08or warnings, and they said that those reprimands or sanctions would be put on their employee

01:13records. Interestingly, SA Health said that a further one employee was still under investigation

01:20for inappropriately accessing the records, but that investigation is still ongoing. Now,

01:26the South Australian Health Minister is speaking to reporters currently and has been questioned

01:31about this matter. He said his health department was taking the issue extremely seriously.

01:37He said that the 18 staff members who were found to have inappropriately accessed the

01:43medical records came from a range of roles within SA Health. He was unable to say whether

01:48any of them held leadership positions within the department, and he said that that 19th

01:54staff member who is still under investigation, he was unsure when those investigations would

01:59wrap up. The ABC did ask the Health Minister yesterday for an update on this investigation.

02:05He didn't provide it. However, today he said that those investigations were only finalised

02:10on Thursday, and that after inquiries, they were able to release a statement confirming

02:16the outcomes of the investigations. The South Australian Premier, he's previously described

02:21this as appalling allegations at the time of people inappropriately accessing the medical

02:28records. The government says that they take this issue very seriously. They conduct regular

02:32audits of who, which staff members are looking at patients' medical records, and because

02:37it's an electronic system, they are able to tell quite easily if someone has accessed

02:42records that perhaps they shouldn't have.

02:46So, it's a very, very serious issue, and it's something that we need to be very, very

02:51careful about.

02:52So, I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn

02:56it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister

03:00of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going

03:04to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the

03:08Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended