An investigation has found 19 health workers ‘inappropriately’ accessed the medical records of a patient that ABC news understands to be the South Australian Police Commissioner’s son. Another employee is still under investigation
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Well, this investigation came about following the death of Charlie Stevens. He was the 18-year-old
00:07son of Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, and he suffered an irreversible brain damage
00:13following a hit-and-run crash on South Australia's south coast during schoolies celebrations
00:17last November. He later died at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide's south. Now, back
00:23in July, the ABC News exclusively reported that SA Health was investigating 18 staff
00:30over allegations they had inappropriately accessed his medical records. Of those, 10
00:36had been suspended. But investigations have taken months, and today SA Health released
00:42a statement to say that eight staff members had been found to have inappropriately accessed
00:47his medical records. They had resigned, but had they not resigned earlier, SA Health would
00:52have terminated their employment anyway. The statement said that a further 10 staff
00:58members were found to have engaged in misconduct, that also inappropriately accessed the records,
01:04and a number of sanctions had been issued to them, whether that be through formal reprimands
01:09or warnings, and they said that those reprimands or sanctions would be put on their employee
01:14records. Interestingly, SA Health said that a further one employee was still under investigation
01:21for inappropriately accessing the records, but that investigation is still ongoing. Now,
01:27the South Australian Health Minister is speaking to reporters currently and has been questioned
01:32about this matter. He said his health department was taking the issue extremely seriously.
01:38He said that the 18 staff members who were found to have inappropriately accessed the
01:43medical records came from a range of roles within SA Health. He was unable to say whether
01:49any of them held leadership positions within the department, and he said that that 19th
01:54staff member who is still under investigation, he was unsure when those investigations would
02:00wrap up. The ABC did ask the health minister yesterday for an update on this investigation.
02:05He didn't provide it. However, today he said that those investigations were only finalised
02:10on Thursday, and that after inquiries, they were able to release a statement confirming
02:16the outcomes of the investigations. The South Australian Premier, he's previously described
02:21this as appalling allegations at the time of people inappropriately accessing the medical
02:28records. The government says that they take this issue very seriously. They conduct regular
02:33audits of which staff members are looking at patients' medical records, and because
02:38it's an electronic system, they are able to tell quite easily if someone has accessed
02:42records that perhaps they shouldn't have.
02:46For more UN videos visit www.un.org