12 Apr 2016

CYF, health papers found on road

3:31 pm on 12 April 2016

Medical records which found strewn across a Christchurch street came from an independent midwife.

Christchurch resident Ross Johnston said he was leaving his home yesterday morning when he noticed the papers all over the road.

He said that when he took a closer look he noticed they had Child Youth and Family and Canterbury DHB letterheads.

"When I saw the date of birth, the name and the address where they lived, I thought, 'this is serious now'."

"There's a huge big pile of them, and I thought 'who else has probably picked up and read them' - they must have been on the road for a good half hour."

Mr Johnston dropped about 70 papers to his local doctor's practice, where the DHB collected them last night.

The DHB took responsibility for collecting the papers, but say they came from an independent midwife, who is not employed by them.

CDHB acting chief medical officer Richard French said the incident served as a reminder to health professionals to keep patient information secure at all times.