Hong Kong patient identity bracelets sent to landfill by mistake
A total of 114 bracelets from Ruttonjee and Tang Shiu Kin hospitals were treated as regular rubbish instead of confidential waste
Two hospitals in Wan Chai might have leaked personal data of 114 discharged patients after sending their identification bracelets to a landfill instead of following proper procedures in handling confidential waste.
A patient concern group said the incident showed hospital staff members were lax in handling confidential information and did not follow set procedures. The group worried that there might be more serious leaks in future if staff attitudes did not change.
A spokesman for Ruttonjee and Tang Shiu Kin hospitals, which are managed as a single hospital by the same management, announced on Friday that on October 5 an operating assistant responsible for cleaning services transferred the patients’ identification bracelets containing their name, Hong Kong ID card number, age and gender, which had been temporarily stored in a designated confidential waste collection container, to a regular black rubbish bag.
The black bagswere treated as domestic waste and sent to a landfill on the same day, the spokesman said, adding that the hospitals could not recover the bracelets.
Hospital management reported the case to the Hospital Authority two days later, as well as to the Privacy Commissioner.