The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance has fired an employee after a privacy breach was discovered.
During an audit in May, the hospital found that an employee, who they're only identifying as a regulated health professional, had accessed the electronic health records of approximately 40 patients for no valid reason since March.
CKHA CEO Lori Marshall said an immediate investigation revealed that the employee inappropriately accessed the records out of curiosity and didn't have a good enough explanation about why they did it.
"Given the lack of pattern to the employee's access, we determined this is a case of random snooping due to curiosity," the hospital said in a statement released on Wednesday.
CKHA has reported this privacy breach to the employee's professional college and the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Marshall said the worker who accessed the health records is not a doctor and would not say if it's a nurse. She added there are many professions at the hospital that have a professional college.
CKHA also confirmed that the employee did not copy or print the health records that were breached. Marshall said there's no evidence the patient information was shared and doesn't believe any harm was done.
She added all health professionals at the hospital have personal user IDs and passwords and should only access the records of patients in their care.
"CKHA is committed to patient-centred care and preserving patients' trust in the care they are receiving and the staff providing that care," said Marshall. "We regret that this privacy breach happened. We will continue the routine auditing of patient electronic health records and look forward to the implementation of a new electronic record system in the fall of 2020 that will automate the auditing capabilities and strengthen CKHA's ability to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients."
The hospital said employees are bound by professional and legal obligations to respect patient privacy and CKHA requires all employees to sign confidentiality agreements.
Patients affected have received a notification letter by mail or will receive one soon and can contact CKHA's Privacy Officer if they have any questions.
Marshall doesn't expect any criminal charges to be laid in this case.
She also said there wasn't a common thread between any of the patients.