Nova Scotia’s health minister was asked about the privacy breach at St. Martha’s hospital in Antigonish.

Nearly 2,700 people had their personal health data inappropriately accessed by an employee.

Michelle Thompson says it was discovered through an audit by Nova Scotia Health.

“My understanding is that there’s a staff member that accessed a large number of charts. People have been notified, it was investigated and the person is no longer working at St. Martha’s,” said Thompson.

The employee was fired in November, it didn’t become public until April.

When asked why it took so long for the public to be notified, Thompson deferred to Nova Scotia Health’s policies.

“The person has been referred to the RCMP. We do take this matter very seriously, and I know that Nova Scotia Health is following up.”

Thompson says employees have a digital sign-in to access records, and any worker that breaches data is responsible for their actions.