SA Health staff inappropriately access medical records of Charlie Stevens

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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

Transcript

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

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