The 3150 paper-based records were mistakenly destroyed as a result of human error during the routine destruction of old records that were no longer required.

Bendigo Health will contact up to 1812 patients who had part of their medical record destroyed. Some records belonged to patients now deceased.

Chief executive officer Peter Faulkner said the incident was “a serious error on our part”.

He said the records in question contained a variety of information, but the majority of a paper file would include nursing notes, observation charts, correspondence, and duplicates of digital information.

Mr Faulkner said information on admissions and discharges, and diagnostic results was not affected, nor were the records of any psychiatry patients.

The records of patients who presented at the hospital within the past 19 months are entirely digital, so were not destroyed.

Mr Faulkner said the destruction of the records was considered to pose “very low clinical risk to patients and the public, generally”, and those affected had not lost their entire medical record.

“We always assess patients on the condition with which they present to the hospital, not on their clinical history,” Mr Faulkner said.

“However, clinical history can sometimes be helpful in formulating treatment over time.”

Mr Faulkner also assured the public that there was no risk of privacy breaches, with the records having been destroyed according to standards required by law.

Mr Faulkner said the mistakenly destroyed records were physically associated and got caught up with the old records correctly marked for destruction.

The records were marked inactive and stored in an off-site facility.

Records must be kept for certain periods of time as prescribed by the Public Records Office Victoria, which differ depending on the patient and the type of information.

Mr Faulkner said the error was discovered when a record was recalled from the off-site storage, but could not be found.

He said Bendigo Health had notified the Public Records Office and was working with the agency to investigate the incident and review processes.

Bendigo Health has also contacted the authority overseeing healthcare safety, Safer Care Victoria.

No further records will be destroyed until it is discovered how the error occurred.

Mr Faulkner said Bendigo Health received requests from patients for their records “regularly, but not high volume”.

Paper records are sent off-site when a patient has not presented at the hospital for two years, or the records are no longer active.

Affected patients will be contacted in the first instance by phone, where possible, or in writing. Bendigo Health will contact those seen most recently first.

Bendigo Health has also set up a public enquiry line on 1800 959 400 for anyone with concerns.

Mr Faulkner said he did not know whether Bendigo Health would face any penalty for the mistake.

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