In an update on an investigation into conflict of interest, along with inappropriate conduct, data management and contracting out in the Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical services division, the health minister said a letter will go out in days to inform 38,000 individuals that protocols to ensure their information was kept confidential were not followed.
However, the minister said the investigation has concluded that there is minimal, if any, risk of inappropriate use of personal information.
“I want to be very clear we have not found any evidence that any of this data has been used for anything but health research,” MacDiarmid said.
This was one of three examples of breaches shared by the health minister in a press conference Monday.
The case involved data — dates of birth, gender, personal health numbers — both from the Health Ministry and that from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey.
This information collected, as authorized under the federal Statistics Act and with the consent of survey participants, was shared with the ministry under a signed agreement.
The agreement says all personally identifiable information for research cannot be disclosed outside of the ministry. That agreement was breached, according to the minister.
However, MacDiarmid said the information is not easy to read and specific software must be used to open it.
