Falklands Hospital data breach leaves patient trust wounded
Written for the December 9, 2022 issue of Penguin News. Printed under the headline “KEMH data breach leaves patient trust wounded”.
The confidential medical records of patients at the King Edward Memorial Hospital were accessed “inappropriately” by a member of staff who has since been dismissed, the Falkland Islands Government has confirmed.
A statement made by an FIG spokesperson confirmed there is an ongoing police investigation and, “An internal investigation by KEMH indicates that no files were altered, only read by the member of staff in question.
“The KEMH is committed to the delivery of a confidential service and treats all breaches of patient confidentiality extremely seriously. It has therefore reacted swiftly in reporting the matter to the police, conducting a thorough internal investigation, and contacting all patients who have been affected.”
Penguin News spoke to a number of individuals who were contacted about their information being accessed.
One anonymous individual told Penguin News that when first seeing the letter informing them that their data had been accessed they weren’t especially concerned.
“I don’t have that much in my medical history for it to be interesting,” they said. But on finding out that the issue was widespread their feelings were stronger.
“Because there’s a lot of people out there who have things on their medical record that they don’t want people knowing, for obvious reasons.”
Speaking about a similar incident happening locally before, they said “I thought that the hospital would have done something to stop this from happening again, but I guess they haven’t.”
Penguin News asked whether their trust in the KEMH was affected by this, and they said, “if I was to go for something I really did not want anyone to know I would be a bit sceptical about going to the hospital.”
They added they felt the trust in the hospital is especially important in the Falklands, “because we don’t have anywhere else to go if you needed medical attention.”
They said that they have spoken to others who were informed that their data had been accessed inappropriately, and the predominant question among them was, “Why would you want to look?”
Another individual who also wished to remain anonymous, expressed sadness for the KEMH staff.
“The hospital staff work hard to be trusted by the community here, and it’s sad to know that someone’s decided to access our files for some reason and it could set back a lot of that trust.”
This person also informed Penguin News that while living in the UK their data had been accessed in a similar breach. “I lost 4 years of important records from my medical data, tests and appointments I waited years for gone and cancelled.”
They added that while they had nothing they would worry about others knowing from... the breach, “I worry for the more vulnerable.”
Team Tranquil, a local charity focused on matter of mental health in the Falklands, shared on social media that they were “aware of the serious breach of confidentiality” and that they understand “people might feel reluctant to seek support via the KEMH and we would remind people that we provide a FREE service where people [in the Falklands] can ring a local number 51515 and be automatically transferred to one of the Samaritans in the UK. It will not be recorded on your phone bill.”
They added that when using this service “you do not need to give your name and what you discuss remains between you and the Samaritan. No record is sent to the KEMH and no record is kept by SURE.
“We hope this might help some at this difficult time.”
The government statement on the issue concluded “Letters have been sent to all patients affected by this breach.
“Affected patients who wish to speak to someone, or would like further information, are requested to contact Janette Vincent, Healthcare Governance Manager, on 28001 or via e-mail JVincent@kemh.gov.fk
“As this is an ongoing police investigation the KEMH cannot provide any further comment at this time.”
Associated editorial by Nicholas Roberts on the data breach, same issue of PN.
There are two points which have been raised by our anonymous sources surrounding the hospital data breach which really resonated with me. The fact that one said they weren’t angry or upset until they realised just how many other people have apparently been affected, because they personally didn’t have anything in their record to hide, goes to show for one how selfless members of our community can be, and also how open people are here in the Falklands - generally speaking of course.
I myself have been to the hospital both for the Mental Health Service and for general medical treatment, and while I’m thankful that I didn’t receive a letter saying my records have been accessed I have no issue in sharing my experiences with mental health or with oversharing the weird things my body does.
I’ve found that people are generally becoming more and more open about their mental health, and health in general. Gradually the old fashioned British stiff-upper-lip; keep calm and carry on; don’t tell anyone and don’t make them worry attitude is becoming more and more of a thing of the past. This is largely thanks to efforts of doctors and other medical professionals.
I’ve spent weeks on occasion talking to myself about making a doctors appointment for something, thinking that it’ll be embarrassing, that a doctor will look at some mark on my skin I’ve gotten worried about, or hear about the seemingly ever increasing range of foods which can do terrible things to my body, and they’ll forever note me down in the back of their mind as gross.
But of course they don’t. Doctors look at hundreds, probably thousands, of bodies in their lifetime, with the full range of ailments which can come along - and the most important thing to them (I’ve been informed by good sources) is that you came to the appointment and made sure that everything is okay.
Unfortunately breaches like this, individuals forcing their way into private information instead of reaching out a compassionate hand to ask if all is well with their fellow members of the community, damages the slowly developed sense of trust and feeling that there’s nothing to hide. Because it’s not hard for a feeling to develop that “if it’s worth prying it’s worth hiding.”
The other point which resonated with me was the mention that we have only one hospital, and the staff there work hard to earn our trust and do their jobs right. This breach, and the previous one, damage the trust of the community as a whole in the hospital, and - as reported on the front page - may make people more hesitant to go to the hospital if they think the issue is something they wouldn’t want the community as a whole to know about.
I don’t know how many people have been affected by this, though I’ve been hearing numbers in the hundreds. To those affected I encourage you to not let this discourage you from going to the hospital in the future. The vast majority of medical professionals are just that: professionals. Your health is too important to risk because of unfortunate incidents like this.