In our view: Recent mistake gives government a good opportunity to learn

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speakup

Sometimes, it can be good to make mistakes.

That's how we learn.

That doesn't mean our provincial government should be making mistakes by losing private health information sent to British Columbia. It made a serious error and it deserves to own up to the repercussions.

But at least it's a learning opportunity before we take the plunge into electronic health records.

The province must take every precaution in rolling out electronic health records to restore trust in its policies as we embark on this new age for health information.

Otherwise, this mistake is bound to be repeated, which is inexcusable.

Making a mistake gives one a chance to stop, take a critical look at the situation, improve and try again.

Look into mistakes you have made in your life. Have you learned from them? Have you made changes to avoid repeating mistakes?

The province, for better or worse, got this opportunity when it lost health information sent to British Columbia. The records were part of a regular exchange between the two provinces for health care provided to out-of-province residents.

Thankfully, the records were on a supposedly hard-to-access medium and it seems unlikely that personal privacy was breached. There's been no evidence of identity theft.

That's fortunate. What a debacle this would have been for the Liberal provincial government as it leads the province into a new era of electronic health records with promises of stringent privacy policies.

It did the right thing by getting provincial ombudsman Bernard Richard involved to study the situation and give recommendations.

However, the situation raises important questions as the province prepares electronic health records.

Has this problem-turned-opportunity given us a chance to learn anything? Will electronic health records be safe and private?

We're probably in a better situation to study this issue now.

The government was burned, but it seems like it has learned its lesson. It's reviewing policies and providing more training to staff.

It's improving notification procedures, using more secure media and hiring an outside consultant to review its privacy regulations.

To its credit, the provincial government didn't pass the buck on this problem. It chose to own up to it.

So it sounds like it has learned something from its mistake. Important changes are being made at the same time as it readies plans for electronic health records.

Let's hope it has learned enough.