Yet another ACC privacy breach has one client feeling "violated" after personal documents ended up in the hands of another.© 2012 Fairfax NZ News
The victim was one of the original 6748 clients in the much-publicised ACC emailing of details to National Party insider Bronwyn Pullar.
That led to a series of revelations which ultimately caused former ACC minister Nick Smith to resign his portfolios.
But two days after finding out about that leak in the media, the client discovered her privacy had again been breached – and this time at a personal level.
These documents involved details of her injury and other personal information.
The victim does not want her name, location or the nature of her injury publicised – although all that and more has already ended up in one Whangaparaoa man.
"Once you can accept, and that was a fairly innocuous document. But to have personal reports sent out that outline my injury and its effect on me ... this is worse than the first one. This has real personal data that impacts on me."
The woman came forward after reading a story about another privacy breach in the Rodney Times last week, involving Orewa's Mike Rogerson who received personal documents from ACC that were meant for another client on the North Shore.
The woman says she "freaked out" after being told about that story because she thought the documents may have been hers.
Only after contacting the Rodney Times did she know for sure the victim was someone else. She says it may not be a coincidence that these cases are coming out of the North Shore office.
Mr Rogerson reported difficulties contacting ACC to report the confidential documents he received but this victim says getting through was not a problem – getting answers was.
She says in the past she has had multiple and unnecessary assessments, had to appeal decisions and has had problems with her payments. Now these twin breaches of privacy mean she has lost any confidence in ACC's confidentiality. She would like to know how somebody's information can end up in an envelope with another client's name and address.
ACC media spokeswoman Stephanie Melville says it is not possible to speak about specific cases and there is a review system outlined on the website. She says the priority is for ACC to retrieve the information.
ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart apologised to clients for privacy breaches last week. The ACC Board and Office of the Privacy Commissioner have requested an independent review of ACC information security policies and practices as a result of the initial privacy breach, which occurred in August.
A special team and an 0800745254 number have been set up to deal with privacy breaches.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/rodney-times/6642739/ACC-leaks-continue
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