Gardai have launched a full investigation after a break-in to a confidential medical records facility at St Conal’s in Letterkenny.
St Conals (Pic courtesy of donegalimages.com)
Thieves scaled a building and managed to get into the third floor which is part of the overall Letterkenny General Hospital Campus, Donegal Daily can reveal.
It is not known if the archived records were the specific target of the burglars.
Many files taken during the raid were scattered in the car park grounds of the facility.
Some of the confidential files were found by passers-by.
A spokesman for the HSE West confirmed they have updated their security measures at the building since the break-in on Wednesday.
“Once this issue was brought to our attention, the HSE immediately notified the Gardai who are currently investigating the matter.
“It would appear that the offender’s scaled the building and broke in through a window on the third floor. Additional security measures are currently being put in place in the building,” said a spokesman.
The spokesman added that the hospital is now working with the Data Protection Commissioner and the Gardai in relation to the confidential security breach.
“The HSE has very clear policies in place for the storage and disposal of confidential documents and takes any potential breach of these policies extremely seriously.
“The Hospital Management deeply regrets that this unacceptable vandalism resulted in some patient physiotherapy records being dumped in the adjacent area,” added the HSE spokesman.
The HSE is also examining the extent of any missing files.
A Garda spokesman has appealed for anyone who may have information on the break-in to contact them at Letterkenny Garda station.
A Garda spokesman said it did not know at this stage if the medical files were the target of the break-in.
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