NT Health says 12 people affected by Royal Darwin Hospital privacy breach

NT Health said Tuesday that 12 people were affected by a privacy breach at Royal Darwin Hospital, retracting its earlier claim that only five patients were involved, the ABC reported. The department now says 12 people in total were affected by the breach, compared with the earlier figure of five patients. NT Health issued a second statement on Tuesday afternoon after the ABC put further questions to it and at least one affected patient complained.

Health Minister Steve Edgington had previously said on Monday that NT Health had contacted all five affected patients. An NT Health spokesperson repeated that only five individuals were determined to be identified. The ABC had identified about a dozen people exposed by the breach before seeking clarification from the department.

Confidential medical information of pregnant women was shared with 28,000 Instagram followers, according to the ABC. A medical observer at Royal Darwin Hospital posted the information to Instagram. Neda Mogharehabed, an overseas-trained doctor, visited Royal Darwin Hospital from Oct. 12 to Oct. 14 as a medical observer.

Photos and videos from the visit featured patient names, ID numbers, medical conditions and other highly sensitive information. NT Health said it removed the content from Mogharehabed’s Instagram account and that she is no longer linked with the department. Mogharehabed told the ABC she cannot confirm how someone posted the images and that she takes patient privacy seriously.

The ABC found four affected people who had not been contacted by Royal Darwin Hospital about the breach. Four patients affected by the breach told it that NT Health had not informed them about it. Three affected patients gave it statements expressing disappointment and distress over the disclosure of their medical information. The notification failures meant some patients learned their private medical information had been shared without hearing from the hospital.

Royal Darwin Hospital management sent a letter to a handful of affected patients last Friday. The letter said the hospital first learned of the social media posts on Oct. 15. NT Health told the media earlier in the week that it learned of the breach on the afternoon of Oct. 14.

The ABC received evidence that an email detailing the posts was sent to NT Health’s legal team on the morning of Oct. 13. The email to the legal team arrived before the department said it learned of the breach.

Fiona Renshaw, NT Health deputy chief executive of regional health services, said specialist ICT, or information and communications technology, assistance unlocked files that could not previously be opened. “This has identified the information of a further seven patients,” Renshaw said. NT Health said it is contacting the additional patients to explain what happened, apologise and offer support.

Steve Edgington referred the breach to the NT Information Commissioner and NT Police to determine whether anyone committed criminal offences. The minister said authorities will examine records to identify everybody in the ward that day. He said they will contact those people about the investigation and whether anyone breached their privacy.

Two affected patients said Royal Darwin Hospital is the only maternity service in Darwin. Sophia Emberson-Bain, a local maternity care advocate, said the breach was another blow for expectant Darwin mothers. She said NT Health should have contacted all 12 women immediately.