Investigation into two alleged data breaches by the Irish Health Service Executive

An investigation has been launched by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) into allegations of data breaches by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The investigation concerns “the storage and retention of personal data contained in paper files held by the HSE through its use of external storage facilities and security breaches which were notified to the DPC by the HSE”, it said the DPC in a press release this morning.

The DPC further confirmed that the breaches it had been made aware of related to two specific locations – where HSE data was “accessed by unauthorized third parties”.

In particular, they confirmed that the violations concerned “the circulation of videos taken from these locations showing paper medical records located in these establishments”.

According to RTE, one of the alleged incidents involves a TikTok video showing someone reviewing patient records at a hospital in Donegal.

The other incident is believed to have occurred at a facility in Dublin.

Both alleged incidents occurred in 2023.

Irish Post has contacted the HSE for comment.