Roebourne: Mawarnkarra Health Services practitioner Amorette Lockyer accessed more than 1300 patients’ records

A health practitioner inappropriately accessed the medical records of more than 1300 patients at an Aboriginal health clinic in the Pilbara, including confidential notes relating to her ex-partner, colleagues and sex assault victims. Amorette Lockyer was an Aboriginal health practitioner in the clinical team at Mawarnkarra Health Services in Roebourne when she accessed confidential records 3125 times “without any clinical justification or authorisation” between 2014 and 2018. Lockyer accessed the records of 67 staff members, family and friends, her ex-partner, and records of patients who “had declined to discuss their presenting complaint” with her. Her “unexplained viewings” also included “entries by a doctor or counsellor of a sensitive nature including in relation to suicide attempts, sexual assault consultations, requests for terminations of pregnancy and referrals for drug rehabilitation”. Lockyer “deliberately accessed the records in a way that would not leave an audit trail in the patient’s record”, by viewing them through a “Medicare window” on the clinic’s computer system. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia launched disciplinary action in the State Administrative Tribunal, with the two parties reaching a settlement last week. After agreeing she engaged in professional misconduct, Lockyer’s registration, which has already been suspended for a year and three months, was suspended for a further four months. And she can now only start working as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner again under supervision, and must complete training and a report “in relation to ethical decision making and patient confidentiality”. “The access was in breach of the applicant's code of conduct for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners, in that she failed to protect the privacy and right to confidentiality of patients of the clinic,” a statement of facts said. “(She) violated her ethical and legal obligations to protect patient privacy as required ... by gaining confidential information about (her) local community members, family members and colleagues which they did not disclose to her. “(And) failed to ensure that records were held securely and were not subject to unauthorised access, as required ... by leaving her computer unlocked.” The tribunal took into account Lockyer’s clean history, that she agreed to settle, her “significant remorse” and that she “lives in a remote community and has already suffered repercussions” when imposing its penalty. Mawarnkarra Health Services declined to comment.