NL Health Services has another privacy breach on its hands.

The news came quietly in a news release sent out just after 5 p.m. Friday.

The breach is related to an email sent to the parents and guardians of 253 pediatric patients with diabetes.

Officials say “the recipients of that email were inadvertently not blind copied,” allowing everyone on the list to see each other’s email addresses.

The news release quotes CEO David Diamond as saying he sincerely regrets the error and apologizes to all patients whose privacy was breached.

Staff are contacting each person on the email list and asking them to delete the email and other addresses.

They say the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has also been notified.

NL Health Services V-P for privacy, Stephen Greene, stated “it’s important to publicly disclose and discuss these privacy breaches,” adding “it’s another way to reinforce awareness among all health-care workers of their obligation to maintain the privacy of patients, residents and clients.”

However, it’s not clear why the news was released late on a Friday, and after business hours.

“NL Health Services has many measures in place to protect patient health information and we will continue to work on ensuring proper protocols are followed,” said Greene.

A similar breach in July affected more than 100 patients with Newfoundland and Labrador Fertility Services.