Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I thank Deputy Lynch for raising this issue.

The HSE has confirmed that it was notified yesterday that patient records from the former Cork Regional Hospital, now Cork University Hospital, and St. Finbarr's Hospital had been found in a disused landfill site in Glounthane, County Cork. I understand that the HSE responded immediately to the situation and is undertaking a full investigation to establish how these files came to be disposed of in this inappropriate manner.

The initial inspection indicates that the records date back to before 1983. The discovery was made when part of the landfill previously licensed by Cork County Council adjacent to a railway line was excavated as part of preparatory works for the reopening of the east Cork railway line. As soon as the HSE was notified, the information was treated with the utmost urgency and hospital staff attended the site to assess the situation.

I understand the HSE is working in co-operation with the construction company and with Cork County Council. A meeting between the HSE and Cork County Council will take place on the site today. HSE security staff have been deployed to the site as nothing can be removed until inspected by Cork County Council's waste enforcement officer. The HSE has reported the matter to the Garda Síochána. In addition, it has established a lo-call information line to deal with public inquiries about this matter.

HSE south has advised that since the mid-1980s hospital records are stored indefinitely and that prior to this certain inactive hospital records would have been sent for microfilming and for appropriate disposal. Hospital records have, since 1993, been confidentially archived and stored by a professional data storage company.

The HSE continues to make progress in respect of the appropriate management of patient records. Its National Hospitals Office, NHO, launched its code of practice for health care records management in May 2007. The code outlines the framework for best practice in ensuring consistent, coherent health care record management in all public and private health care facilities throughout the country. In addition, it sets out the schedules for retention and disposal of health care records in publicly funded acute hospitals in the national hospitals office. The code lists the minimum retention periods for health care records in the NHO and provides a clear policy in order that hospitals can operate a health care records retention and disposal practice in a consistent manner across the Health Service Executive.

The HSE is committed to ensuring that this code of practice is adopted and adhered to nationally and has developed a staff training programme which is being rolled out during 2008. I hope this will information will alleviate the concern being experienced by members of the public.

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