The Privacy Commissioner's Office says someone in Prince Albert is dumping health records in the recycling and needs to stop immediately. The records were found at this facility. (Susan McNeil/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Privacy

UPDATE: Source has been found, says privacy commissioner

Aug 3, 2022 | 3:02 PM

UPDATE: The office of the Privacy Commissioner says the source of the dumping of health records into recycling has been found and the matter is still being investigated.

Someone in Prince Albert is dumping paper copies of health records into the recycling and is being asked to stop immediately.

Diane Aldridge of the Privacy Commissioner’s office reached out to paNOW to alert whoever is doing it to cease immediately.

“The waste truck had come in and dumped some recycling and mixed in with the regular recycling was patient records, which of course causes alarm because of course we want to protect patient health information” said Aldridge.

The Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner, as it is formally called, oversees access to information and privacy rights in the province, including the Health Information Act.

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The commissioner’s office was told yesterday by Crown Shred, which also operates in Prince Albert, that they had received records that should have disposed of in a different manner.

A team of people was sent to Prince Albert to investigate the source of the leak once the Privacy Office found they could not identify who was dumping the records immediately.

Team members are at Crown Recycling trying to sort through all the papers to make sure they get any health records but it is a painstaking process.

“But as they were doing that, another truck pulls in and dumps a whole bunch more and it was evident that a whole bunch of information is actively being dumped as we speak,” Aldridge explained.

“Our concern right now is that it is going to continue, and our team is only up there for a limited amount of time. Our hope is that whoever is doing this will stop.”

“If it’s a physician or another health care provider in the area or someone who is working on their behalf, that they contact us immediately,” Aldridge said.

Anyone affected should call the director of compliance in Prince Albert at (306) 798-2360.

There are approved ways to dispose of health information which vary depending on the medium used; from shredding paper to eliminating digital files.

People who are trustees of the information are expected to be aware of the methods and, Aldridge said, fines for violations can be significant.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow