The Southern District Health Board may eventually move to a completely electronic system for staff access to personal health information in the wake of a clinician losing a file with details of 23 breast cancer patients.
The document was lost on July 4, most likely on the way from Pacific Radiology’s Bond St office to Dunedin Hospital.
It has never been found.
The report produced by the formal investigation into the lost file was released to the Otago Daily Times yesterday under the Official Information Act.
"Reliance upon paper was the main factor in why this event occurred," the report said.
"There was also no acceptable standard to safely transport paper which could have reduced the risk that a member of the public could inadvertently read personal health information."
The document was printed out by a clinician to take to a multidisciplinary meeting on breast care, where Otago and Southland cases were discussed to agree care plans for the women.
"The document was emailed to the clinician, printed on to paper, and written on," the report said.
"The document was then thought to have been transported by car and walking across Dunedin.
"It is assumed that the document went missing during transportation: however, as the document has never been found, it is not possible to confirm where the document went missing."
All 23 patients whose details were in the document had been contacted, offered a chance to comment on the investigation, and received apologies.
A range of privacy safeguards was instituted by the Southern District Health Board in the wake of the loss of the document.
The report recommended a longer-term fix could be a shift to an entirely digital system, which would require staff to enter passwords to access personal health information and allow them to make notes in electronic files.
It was not possible for staff at the meeting to make notes on the files without printing them out beforehand, the report said.
SDHB chief executive Chris Fleming has previously reiterated the organisation’s apology to affected patients, and said he was confident new security measures would further protect patient privacy.
