Employees of the GGzE, the psychiatric care facility for the Eindhoven region, were able to view the files of all patients almost without restriction. A client discovered that at least 160 employees accessed her file. The management denies that employees have access to all patient files, but acknowledges that things went wrong in a number of cases. The healthcare institution confirms this to the Eindhovens Dagblad.
To ensure patient privacy, the law allows only practitioners to view patient files. This also prevents employees from poking around in random files, such as those of an ex-partner, neighbor, acquaintance or Dutch celebrity. Employees who view files of patients they do not treat and for whom they do not have permission risk losing their jobs.
A woman under treatment at the GGzE discovered last year that at least 160 employees had accessed her file. How she found out is unknown. Because her file contained confidential information about her health, she filed a complaint with the healthcare facility in August 2022.
As a result of this complaint, then Interim Chairman of the Board Luc Kenter initiated an investigation into the incident. The investigation committee concluded that the employees who had accessed her file were authorized to do so. Thus, the healthcare facility had done nothing wrong. At the same time, Kenter promised last March to review the logging and monitoring procedure. It is also having the authorization policy reviewed.
The board denies that all 2,400 employees have access to the files of some 11,000 GGzE patients. However, the board does acknowledge that things have gone wrong in a number of cases. "Only when an employee is involved in the treatment or supervision of the specific client is authorized for access. Recently there have been cases that have not met this standard. Measures have been taken in response to these," interim president Kenter said in writing.
The letter does not address questions the client had about accessing her file. For example, it is unknown if and how she consented to viewing. "We are sorting out the answers to this and will include this in the plan of action to improve client data protection," Kenter said.
The news comes out at a time when the GGzE is going through a major reorganization. The Eindhoven healthcare institution wants to bring care closer to the clients. Clients are very worried about this, because they are afraid of losing their trusted practitioner. There are also concerns about privacy, because neighborhood teams will have to cooperate intensively with clients' family members, associations, general practitioners and other care organizations.
