A number of health workers in South Australia have been found to have "inappropriately" accessed the medical records of a patient. ABC News now understands the patient to be the son of the state's police commissioner.
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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
00:12following 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
00:29over allegations they had inappropriately accessed his medical records. Of those, 10
00:35had been suspended. But investigations have taken months, and today SA Health released
00:41a 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,
01:03and a number of sanctions had been issued to them, whether that be through formal reprimands
01:08or warnings, and they said that those reprimands or sanctions would be put on their employee
01:13records. Interestingly, SA Health said that a further one employee was still under investigation
01:20for inappropriately accessing the records, but that investigation is still ongoing. Now,
01:26the South Australian Health Minister is speaking to reporters currently and has been questioned
01:31about this matter. He said his health department was taking the issue extremely seriously.
01:37He 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
01:48any 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
01:59wrap 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
02:32audits of who, which staff members are looking at patients' medical records, and because
02:37it's an electronic system, they are able to tell quite easily if someone has accessed
02:42records that perhaps they shouldn't have.
02:46So, it's a very, very serious issue, and it's something that we need to be very, very
02:51careful about.
02:52So, I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn
02:56it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister
03:00of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going
03:04to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the
03:08Minister of Health, and I'm going to turn it back over to the Minister of Health, and