TORONTO — Six employees of the University Health Network were disciplined for looking at private patient records after recent hospital stays by Toronto Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn and former prime minister Brian Mulroney, says a report released Tuesday.

The action is detailed in a report by Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian on the information-handling practices of the network, which includes Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital. "The discipline ranged from a reprimand to a 14-day suspension without pay," reads the report, released on the privacy commissioner's Web site.

It describes two "well-known individuals," referred to as "Patient A" and "Patient B," who both had hospital stays in May.

Citing patient confidentiality, a University Health Network spokesman refused to confirm that the patients involved were Mulroney and Quinn.

Mulroney underwent tests during May at Toronto General for an irregular heartbeat. Quinn was admitted to hospital during May's NHL Eastern Conference final for a chest condition.

According to the report, "most of the accesses to the medical records of the two well-known patients were for job-related purposes. However . . . a small number of staff and medical residents had accessed the records of the two well-known patients even though they did not appear to be involved, directly or indirectly, in the care provided to these patients."

Three health network staffers and three medical residents were found to have "inappropriately accessed patient records."

All of the unusual accesses occurred within 72 hours of both patients being admitted to the hospital network, the report said.

Cavoukian was not available Tuesday to comment.

The University Health Network appointed a corporate privacy officer in December 2001, the first hospital system in Ontario to do so.

After the incidents, the privacy officer contacted Cavoukian's office, which agreed to do an independent review, even though it does not have jurisdiction over the health sector.

Overall, her report found that the hospital network is making "considerable effort" to make sure such breaches do not happen again.

Cavoukian also recommended that the hospital propose to medical schools that students take at least eight hours of lectures run by privacy specialists.

Tom Closson, president and CEO of the University Health Network, said he was pleased with the report's findings.

"The purpose of doing it was to help us feel comfortable that we were doing all we could to address the issue . . . and her report has come back being positive about the steps that we took."

Under draft legislation that has been proposed by the government, the privacy office would have jurisdiction over privacy complaints filed against hospitals, said a spokesman for Cavoukian.