24 June 2020
Ms Amy Van Wey Lovatt
Via email
E-mail: [FYI request #12922 email]
Dear Ms Van Wey Lovatt
Official Information Act (1982) Request
I write in response to your Official Information Act request, received by us on 12 June 2020, via part
transfer of your request to the Ministry of Health under section 14 of the Act. As a part of a larger
request, you noted a number of points related to District Health Board identification of and reporting
on incidents in DHBs about access to private information, and requested the fol owing information:
Request 4: Impersonation of a physician is fraud and thus a crime. Further, the impersonation of a
physician in a medical setting would be consistent with an incident which has the potential to cause
harm to a patient.
I request, for each DHB,
1. The total number of incidents involving an al egation that a member of the public had
impersonated a physician, between 1 May 2019 and 31 August 2019, and
2. In the event there were such incidents reported,
a. The date of the al eged incident,
b. The names of the agencies the incidents were reported to, and
c. A description of the evidence provided to support the al egation of the incident.
Request 5: Unauthorised access, by a patient, to secure and restricted areas, which require employee
key-card access, such as surgical theatres and pathology laboratories, where diagnostic and
biohazardous material are kept, would be an incident which has the potential to cause harm to a
patient or DHB employee. Such an incident has the potential to be a crime, if it involved breaking and
entering or theft of an employee key-card.
I request, for each DHB,
1. The total number of incidents involving an al egation that a member of the public had gained
unauthorised access to a surgical theatre or pathology laboratory, between 1 May 2019 and 13
August 2019, and
2. In the event there were such incidents reported,
a. The date of the al eged incident,
b. The names of the agencies the incidents were reported to, and
c. A description of the evidence provided to support the al egation of the incident.
Counties Manukau District Health Board
Private Bag 93311, Otahuhu, Auckland
T: 09 276 0000 | cmdhb.org.nz
Request 6: According to the MoH standards and legal precedent, patients’ medical records are
confidential, and access is restricted to the purpose in which they were obtained (for the care and
treatment of the patient), and may only be accessed with the patients’ consent. Please refer to HISO
10064 and the Health Information Privacy Code 1994]. MoH standards (HISO 10029:2015 Health
Information Security Framework) requires DHB’s to take steps to protect against re-routing or
interception of private (email) communications, as the interception of private communications is a
crime under section 216B of the Crimes Act.
I request, for each DHB,
1. The total number of incidents involving an al egation that a DHB employee had engaged in the
interception of private email communications between a patient and a DHB employee, between
1 January 2019 and 29 May 2020, and
2. In the event there were such incidents reported,
a. the dates of the incidents,
b. the names of the agencies the incidents were reported to,
c. a description of the evidence provided to support the al egation of the incident, and
d. the outcome of the investigation into the incidents (e.g., District or High Court Case
Number, Privacy Commissioner ruling, Ombudsman decision, Human Rights Tribunal
ruling, etc.).
For context, CM Health Services provide health and support services to more than 569,400 people
residing in South Auckland, both in hospitals and community settings. Our services are delivered via
hospital, outpatient/ ambulatory and community-based models of care, and via contracted providers.
We employ more than 7,500 staff, and see more than 118,000 presentations at the Middlemore
Hospital Emergency Department each year.
Our responses are below.
•
Request 4 – There have been no incidents/ allegations at Counties Manukau DHB which match
this request specification.
•
Request 5 – There have been no incidents/ allegations at Counties Manukau DHB which match
this request specification.
•
Request 6 – There have been no incidents/ allegations at Counties Manukau DHB which match
this request specification.
I trust this information satisfactorily answers your query. If you are not satisfied with this response you
are entitled to seek a review of the response by the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Official
Information Act. Please note that this response or an edited version of this may be published on the
Counties Manukau DHB website.
Yours sincerely,
Fepulea’i Margie Apa
Chief Executive Officer
Counties Manukau Health
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