PCPD - Privacy Commissioner welcomes HA's effort to enhance patient data privacy

1.   The Privacy Commissioner Mr. Roderick B. Woo welcomes the recommendations made by the Hospital Authority's ("HA") Taskforce on Patient Data Security and Privacy.

2.    Mr. Woo said, "I am pleased to see that the HA has taken the initiative to review public hospitals' system security and patient data protection and that the Taskforce's recommendations seek to provide technical solutions to address the security risk to patients' data."

3.   The HA contacted the Commissioner this morning to confirm that the Taskforce's recommendations are complementary to the recommendations set out in the Commissioner's Inspection Report dated 22 July 2008. The HA also gave an assurance that it will definitely abide by the Commissioner's recommendations and will provide quarterly progress reports on its implementation.

4.    In recognition of the importance of education and training for medical staff, the PCPD and the HA are planning to stage a privacy awareness campaign which will cover all public hospitals. However, the project cannot be implemented until sometime in the new year due to the Privacy Commissioner's shortage of resources.

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