Remote monitoring will make it easier for patients who perform their dialysis at home. Region Blekinge has taken in the tool on loan.
Through the tool, patients on home dialysis register their weight and blood pressure regularly on a plate given to them by the region. The information is sent to the hospital – the program also contains the patient's personal data.
Didn't follow safety procedures
However, the introduction of the tool has not taken place according to standard safety procedures.
"I can confirm that this has not been done through the usual security procedures," says Stefan Österström, Head of Security at Region Blekinge.
Every time a new system is introduced in the region's organisation, it must first undergo a security check to see if it meets all the requirements. That has not happened in this case.
Is there a risk that the information collected will end up in the hands of third parties?
"These are some of the risks we see in this and what we want to investigate more deeply," says Stefan Österström.
"To help the patient"
According to what SVT has learned, there are about ten patients and the project has been going on for eleven months, something the region denies.
"It's not something I'm aware of. It's a patient, that's the information I've been given," says Carina Ingemansson, head of operations at the medical clinic.
She confirms that they did not follow the safety procedures.
"We don't have that, we have borrowed this system for a purpose to help the patient who can manage their treatment themselves.
Who decided to test this system?
"This was done at that unit, the kidney centre, and it was the person in charge at that unit in consultation with medical experts," says Carina Ingemansson.
Terminated the collaboration
After SVT started asking questions about the tool, the region has stopped using it.
Region Blekinge has submitted a report to the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection, IMY, which will investigate whether the introduction of the tool violates GDPR.