Someone Accessed my Medical Records

[maradyth]

Hi there

I have searched the internet for an answer to this but can only find a post from this site in 2013 that is anything alike.

Basically this horrible woman who has been harassing me has almost certainly looked at my medical records unauthorised. I think this due to her saying things about my mental health (which I have a diagnosis of but not many people know). It is really upsetting.

She works as administrator in the hospital closest to me so would she be able to get into my files? She has also made fake Facebook profiles and written nasty comments on my account previous so I know she is very sneaky and quite obsessed. I would like to know what would you do and how do I find out for sure that she has been looking at my personal data?

I feel that if I contact the hospital I might get through to one of her friends and they will just lie anyway.

Is there any way of getting a list of people who have accessed my files in the last 6 months?

Thanks ever so much for any advice.

xxx

They need time to investigate.

They need to interview the staff member, possible witnesses and get IT to check access data.

This could take some time and unfortunately, if it was the hospital's paper records, there may not be physical proof that someone picked up the file and had a look.

There investigation will take time. Medical records aren't as joined up as you think they should be which is something you soon find out when involving GPs and hospitals in different trusts. To check everything and review it will take time. However highlighting an issue will make them aware of ongoing access.
My drs said the fastest & most reliable way to get information when I was pregnant was to just ask me.
Under the care of one hospital trust, a different trust for community midwifery, my Gp and another different trust for my long term health condition/disability - it soon became clear that the system isn't as joined up as you think it is and cross healthcare provider access is incomplete at best.
The most heartbreaking outcome of this was when I had a late miscarriage and although the hospital sent a letter to the GP my records were only partially updated and no one followed up with the HV who turned up on my doorstep to do my pre-birth check - it broke me.

Oh God will they speak to her before telling me? Even if they have found nothing will they still speak to her? I wish I'd never said anything now, she assaulted me before and this could cause her to get more angry and target me more so if she hasn't looked. What have I done. I hoped they would get back to me with their findings before getting her involved if at all xx

@wonkylegs that's awful I'm so sorry to hear that :'( xx

You've made a serious allegation. There can't be due process without speaking to the person you're complaining about.

But saying that if she has, which I honestly do think she has, then she is in the best hands now. I just worry that if she has only looked at a paper file then she's interviewed or whatever then they find nothing that she will get worse with me. Thank you all again for your comments so far I will keep you updated.
Of course I would love it if she hasn't looked as I have mental health diagnosis's and some quite embarrassing and hurtful things that have happened to me, personal and degrading things, and I would hate knowing that she knows and is telling people everything...
On the other hand if she has then I do want her to be held accountable for all the mental distress she's caused and continues to cause me indirectly (after her harassment warning she can't do it directly)
It's such a hard time she knows exactly what she is doing and is trying to break me so I hope either she has looked and is found out or they don't speak to her at all if she's done it just by paper files.
Very hard times at the moment xx

They may go back through clinics and see if she had any reason to be holding your file at all.

Even if she did, there is no reason why she should know what's in it.

If she's not directly involved in your care, there is no reason for her to know the contents.

Oh it's a serious allegation due to the fact she's already been given a hate crime harassment warning and has been involving my ex husband and other people I know since she abused me years ago and was never charged due to me not speaking up soon enough so no evidence. Then she comes back into my life trying to ruin me because I have a nice house and am doing kind of well when her life is a mess? The police advised me to find out if she'd had access if I was worried about that. So that is why I'm here. She needs to stop I have been in depression and anxiety so badly over this I could hardly string a sentence together last week. I'm scared yes, but I can't continue and whilst ever I believe she knows personal things about me, I will be stressed and anxious. This is the best way. Hopefully she won't do anything else due to the harassment warning.

She has no reason whatsoever to look at my files. She is just admin in a hospital that I sometimes visit if unwell but nothing she should be concerned about. xx

They won't talk to her if their is no evidence she has been looking. Everything is recorded and uploaded to the computer system they use now and they can see who accessed it.

I'd be very surprised if she would do that knowing it could be traced and you have already had the police involved. She possibly could of got a colleague to looks so it wouldn't be traced back to her.

This isn't something that will take a couple of days. They will need to look at everyone who has accessed your records and find out the reasons why are true.

Right, well that makes me feel less anxious thank you ShesABelter... I was also worried that she may have gotten a work mate to look so that's good that they will look at everyone who has been on there. Phew.
And you would think that she wouldn't look after a harassment warning, but this was after a lot of vicious phone calls and social media comments etc. she may have done it before then when she first started all this back in May. Or perhaps before.
Also even after the harassment warning she has been screenshotting things from my personal profile to my ex husband causing trouble. She is really on a mission to hurt me. She was obsessed with me for a while years ago. Why she's come back to haunt me more I do not know. xx

Someone I know has recently found out that his interfering DIL had accessed medical information about him so she could use it against him. The DIL wasn't working at the hospital at the time but asked her colleague to just have a peek for her under the guise of "the family wanting to know about the results and prognosis as soon as possible for poor FIL". The colleague, a doctor, could have lost their job had my friend not told the hospital to leave it and not pursue it for the sake of their grandchild. The person at the hospital still has the opportunity to start an investigation with or without the patient's consent though. It may yet still happen.

OP, IF this person escalates then see it as a positive. You can have the full weight of the law behind you to sort this cow out once and for all.

AwaAnBileYeHeid you're right thank you for that. It's the waiting. I actually came out and told the police under video interview about the abuse she did to me years ago last month. They had her in for interview, she twisted everything and made them aware that I am 'not mentally well' and jealous of her talking to me ex husband... Which is not the case as I left him! But she has this manipulative way of twisting things and making me look like a liar. Then she's told my ex that I've made it all up and she was never questioned and does not have a harassment warning! That I'm a compulsive liar and she feels sorry for me!! So frustrating. And deeply hurtful. xx

Thanks everybody.

Just an update. Today I had an email from the NHS stating:

As part of our investigation I would be grateful if you would answer the following questions:

How do you know **?
Why do you believe ** has accessed your medical records?
How did you become aware of this?
When do you believe this happened?

This makes me think they may have found that she has been on my files. I feel sick to my stomach and am shaking with pure anxiety.

Any thoughts?

Thank you

Xxx

This is a month after my initial contact. If they hadn't found anything would they be asking these questions 4 weeks on? I was truly hoping for a 'No everything is fine please relax now she hasn't gone that low.' But this makes me think otherwise. Just imagining what she might have seen about my mental health and told people is just breaking my heart.
xxx

I don’t think that email necessarily means they have found something - it sounds like they are still investigating. I’m sorry you’re experiencing this OP, it sounds absolutely horrible. You’ve done the right thing by alerting them to your concerns.

for you, OP. I'll come back in a mo and write more, just want you to know someone's here.

Tbh, their latest email reads to me as if they haven’t found any evidence to date and are wanting to know what evidence you are basing your allegations on.

Just respond to their questions honestly.

Sounds more like a basic starting point than a suggestion they have not found anything yet to me.

Expect this to take a long time, and ultimately paper notes will have no completely robust audit trail (how do you make a paper file record everyone who opens it), electronic notes (which don't tend to contain much information) can readily be audited but that only would find something if she logged on as herself, which potentially she may have had some reason to do anyway.

Don't go via PALS. Phone the switchboard and ask to speak to information governance. They are the ones who investigate these claims. It won't matter if she has friends at the hospital, nobody gets away from IG!

Every single time someone looks at your record on line it makes a note of it. They will just look at your record and see who has accessed it.

Unless she has a direct clinical need she will be up for the sack

I agree that with PP. It doesn't necessarily mean anything other than that they are being thorough (and of course slow) in their investigation.

Not sure if you were asking for help answering the Qs, but below are my suggestions, in case they're useful.

Q1 How do you know *? Straightforward answer.

Q2 Why do you believe * has accessed your medical records?
Q3 How did you become aware of this? These two can be answered together, viz, that she has made comments to you about your mental health diagnosis, when very few people know about this.

Q4 When do you believe this happened? Before DATE when her comments started.

Then add a bit on the end: "It may be relevant to know this person has a previous history of harassing me and has previously made [ or, been the main suspect when someone made] fake Facebook profiles in order to written nasty comments on my account."

But perhaps only add that if you have some evidence that she has done anything against you, even if it's just that you discussed her nasty comments with friends. It can be hard getting believed when you have a MH diagnosis, so ideally stick to what you've evidence for.

Regarding the tracking of paper files, this massively fucks me off. I am the only person in my office of 20 staff who can request paper notes. So everyone comes to me and says can i have this person and this person and this person. I don't have time to check who they are so they all get tracked to me!

If someone wanted to check up on someone else, it would look like I had ordered their notes. I'm going to my manager tomorrow to tell her i'm not doing it anymore and she needs to sort their own bloody codes out!

Not to mention I have medical records constantly coming to my desk to ask for Joe Bloggs records back for a clinic and i've never even seen them!

Thanks everyone. Well the people who have asked these questions also stated:

Myself and are purely investigating under the Trust’s disciplinary policy your allegation that ** has accessed your medical records.

So it was from the disciplinary team not the actual complaints woman who first responded a month ago? What's the difference?
xx