Amy Van Wey Lovatt
[FYI request #12922 email]
9 July 2020
Dear Amy
Official Information Act Request – file ref: A08-39 cc Q30-37 M50-
12
Thank you for your request for information which we received via transfer from
the Ministry of Health on 12 June 2020. You have requested the following:
1. 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, the total number of incidents involving
an allegation that a member of the public had impersonated a physician,
between 1 May 2019 and 31 August 2019, and in the event there were
such incidents reported, the date of the alleged incident, the names of
the agencies the incidents were reported to, and a description of the
evidence provided to support the allegation of the incident.
2. 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, the total number of
incidents involving an allegation 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 in the event there were
such incidents reported, the date of the alleged incident, the names of
the agencies the incidents were reported to, and a description of the
evidence provided to support the allegation of the incident.
3. 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, the total number of incidents involving an
allegation 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 in the event there were
such incidents reported, the dates of the incidents, the names of the
agencies the incidents were reported to, a description of the evidence
provided to support the allegation of the incident, and 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.).”
Request 4 – For the period 1 May 2019 and 31 August 2019, MidCentral
District Health Board (MDHB) has no incidents on record of allegations that a
member of the public has impersonated a physician. All incidents are reported
through our electronic incident reporting system. We have confirmed with
Human Resources that they are not aware of any reported incidents of this
nature.
Request 5 - For the period of 1 May 2019 and 13 August 2019, MDHB can
confirmed it has no reported incidents where unauthorised access by a patient
to secure and restricted areas that requires employee key card access have been
recorded.
Request 6 - For the period 1 January 2019 and 29 May 2020, MDHB can
confirm it has no reported incidents where allegations that a DHB employee
has engaged in the interception of private email communications between a
patient and a DHB employee.
Please note that this response, or an edited version, may be published on the
MidCentral DHB website ten working days after your receipt of this response.
Yours sincerely
Judith Catherwood
General Manager
Quality & Innovation
Quality and Innovation
MidCentral District Health Board, PO Box 2056, Palmerston North.
Phone: 06 3508030
