Today the Department of Health was alerted to a breach of confidential data associated with the use of a third-party pager service.
The Department of Health immediately contacted the vendor and asked that the paging component of its service be ceased until the issue is addressed.
The paging service provider has indicated their services have not been compromised and is working with the telecommunications provider.
Patient confidentiality is of utmost importance to the Department of Health, and it is dismayed that confidential information may have made it into the public domain.
As a result of the breach, the Department has also reviewed its own data systems, and those of Health Support Services (HSS) – the shared service centre for the WA health system.
The Department and HSS can confirm that there has not been a breach of health data sources. These systems remain secure.
