Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I am not raising this issue to be provocative or to seek somebody's head. Rather, I put down this Adjournment matter with a sense of desperation. I have a personal interest in this issue. Some years ago, having sought a particular file on behalf of a constituent, I was told that such files were the property of the then Southern Health Board and could not be viewed by the individual concerned. The constituent accepted this response but it seemed to me a peculiar situation. In 2006, another constituent sought information contained in a particular file only to be told that the file had been destroyed. On 18 December 2006, I put down a question to the Minister on the disposal of files and received a comprehensive and reassuring answer. However, today's development is startling on several fronts. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Michael P. Kitt, can answer my questions and, if not, that the Department will get back to me as quickly as possible.

It seems the files that have been uncovered are the very ones which could not be discovered by those women who sought them in reference to the hepatitis C and anti-D debacle. Most of those files were from the 1970s and 1980s, with a small number from the early 1990s. Some of the women who could not prove that the anti-D immunoglobulin they received was contaminated were those whose files had been destroyed or had gone missing. Many files were still available and had been micro-filmed. I do not want to engage in scare tactics and heighten people's fears. However, the relationship between patients and doctors is considered sacrosanct. Patients may not have told their families about conditions for which they are receiving treatment. Even if they had, they most definitely did not want the wider public to know about them. We have all been in this position.

If it is the case that files were unearthed, I want to know who was responsible, how this happened and whether it could happen again. Has the HSE laid claim to these files and taken repossession of them? Will the HSE contact the people involved, let them know what happened and reassure them this will not happen again? We must have confidence in our health service. I accept that this is the last thing the HSE needs at the moment. However, we must obtain reassurance these files are back in the possession of the HSE, that they will be secured this time and that, if they should be destroyed, this will be done.

Will an investigation be undertaken to determine if some of the files unearthed and rediscovered are those sought by women in respect of hepatitis C? If so, will they now be made available? The public must be reassured their private and confidential details held by the HSE are protected and that if they are to be destroyed in the future they will be microfilmed, shredded or incinerated. Perhaps the Minister of State will outline how we are to provide this reassurance to those people who must now be seriously worried.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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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.