28 April 2010

A sexual health clinic has come under fire from an HIV positive patient for failing to protect patient confidentiality.

The patient who attended the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, told the BBC, that he had experienced long waiting times, had difficulty in getting through to make appointments and that the clinic lost blood samples.

After requesting his notes, he was horrified to find that they also contained another patient’s blood test results.

This was a clear breach of patient confidentiality. He had attended the clinic since his diagnosis in 2005, but now flies to the Middlesbrough at his own cost, for his HIV care.

The hospital told the BBC that ‘every effort is made to maintain confidentiality when issuing results’.

Latest figures from Avert show that Northern Ireland had the largest proportional increase of HIV in the UK.

To see the full interview go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8650423.stm