Gross invasion of personal privacy by neighbour

[gldd]

Hi everyone, I wondered if I could ask the thoughts of the Mumsnet community on a sensitive issue regarding personal / medical privacy. Around 1 year ago my wife and I suffered through a positive NIPT and then scan confirming severe chromosomal abnormalities 12 weeks into our pregnancy, followed by an extremely upsetting medical termination. We are still dealing with this loss and its associated sadness with the help of a professional counsellor. My wife is a private person and has chosen to share this information only with a counsellor, family, and close friends.

Last week during baby loss awareness week we received through our letterbox a handwritten note from one of our next-door neighbours commiserating my wife on her loss and explaining in some detail our neighbour’s past fertility problems (she now has two small children). This neighbour, who is not a friend (we only very occasionally see her and say hello) works part-time as a receptionist at our local surgery. Earlier this year, for a number of reasons including the fact that our neighbour may view our confidential medical records, my wife decided to move to another nearby surgery. This neighbour had clearly accessed my wife’s (or my?) medical records, presumably has shared the information with her partner and mother (with whom she lives for now), and then decided to write my wife the message.

My first reaction was shock that a stranger could access and share what I would consider to be the most intimate and private medical information. Surely this is in breach of surgery rules, medical confidentiality, or even the law, especially given GDPR? A friend we have shared this with is of the opinion that it constitutes a sackable offence. At the time, my wife was also shocked (and upset) but perhaps more forgiving and so wrote a brief note thanking her for her concern and thoughts. Obviously, it would be very difficult to be on bad terms with our immediate neighbour. I can imagine them taking offense quite easily. In recent days and thinking about it more my wife has been very upset at the breach of privacy, at the reminder of our upsetting experience, her uninvited unburdening, at the thought that our near-neighbour nosed through our records without our permission, and at the fact that although the note was thoughtful in a way, was actually far more about our neighbour and about her difficulties. Perhaps it was a way for her to process her own experiences?

We’re wondering what next steps to take and would be interested in thoughts. Has anyone had a similar experience? Can anyone advise on the legal position here? My wife and I have discussed it at length and my wife feels that it would be too upsetting to bring it up herself. Neither of us would want our neighbour to lose her job, however surely I should bring this up with the practice to ensure that safeguarding procedures are in place, that medical information is confidential and kept confidential, and that this would not happen again? I have decided to leave the practise myself. I’m also thinking of raising it with the neighbour, though that will be a difficult conversation. Should we leave it and put her mistake down to the foolishness of youth? I’d be interested in everyone else’s thoughts.

Thankyou

It's an awful breach of your wifes medical confidentiality and of GDPR and if you report her she will likely (rightly in my opinion) be fired.

As others have said, if an nhs employee accidentally sees information about someone they know, they should tell their boss then never mention it again. If they access it deliberately, they will be fired.

@gldd

She could not have found out from anyone we've told as none of them live nearby and we've been very private about this. She wrote in her note '... since I worked at xxx surgery I had to open and file letters / documents of yours...'.

We spoke with a GP friend of ours who said that anyone in her position who comes across confidential medical information relating to someone they know should be recusing themselves immediately, handing it to a colleague, and certainly not sharing it.

If this is the case, take the note to the surgery and ask to see the practice manager. That is unacceptable. Not the filing notes of yours in itself but acting on that information in any way is wrong, morally and legally and also shows a shocking lack of boundaries.

Never “ If this is the case, take the note to the surgery and ask to see the practice manager. That is unacceptable. ”

Agree.

@gldd

She could not have found out from anyone we've told as none of them live nearby and we've been very private about this. She wrote in her note '... since I worked at xxx surgery I had to open and file letters / documents of yours...'.

We spoke with a GP friend of ours who said that anyone in her position who comes across confidential medical information relating to someone they know should be recusing themselves immediately, handing it to a colleague, and certainly not sharing it.

Go and speak to the practice manager. She has breached confidentiality in a major way. Although she meant well, she should know never to reveal what she has learnt in the course of her work. As others have said, it’s a disciplinary offence.

I agree, accessing the information in the course of the work is not a problem if she has a legitimate reason to do so (check on blood results, issue a prescription etc). It’s the disclosing of it outside the gp surgery environment that’s the problem.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Your neighbour, as a 'professional' needs to filter information, if she happened to see this as part of her job then she keeps quiet about this and shares with no one, including you.

You've got options, tell the manager, ignore or confront her - I'd personally confront, tell her how devastated you've been and you wanted to keep this confidential and have been terribly upset by her letter. she's breached basics of GDPR in her confidential nature role, and to learn from this because had you gone to the surgery she'd be in hot water
Good luck with your future family

That's outrageous! Follow it up OP....that stupid woman should not be in a position of trust.

You should report it even if she does lose her job. She could be reading everyone she knows medical records!

This is shocking behaviour, especially from someone who (if she worked in a GPs..) should 100% know about confidentiality.

I would complain, 100%. However, it could very easily cause problems as obviously it would be very obvious it had been you who complained theres no way to do this without her knowing. But my god, that behaviour is shocking. While of course she has been in an upsetting situation also, that still does not give her the right to do this.

I am absolutely appalled. I worked in a confidential medical environment for many years and was privy to patient information. No way would I ever have referred to it if I met them outside nor told anybody else.

The woman is dangerous and should not be working in that scene.

Who knows what information about other people she's accessed and shared as well. I'd definitely report it. It's not normal behaviour for someone in a position of trust.

You need to report this. She could be doing this to God knows how many other people. Do you still have the letter?

I can’t believe someone would admit to looking at your wife’s records. Surely she must know that’s a sackable offence. Some people really are stupid. She will get into a lot of trouble.

I wonder if you can report this anonymously or request that your identity not be revealed to her. Possibly she'll know it's you just based on the process of elimination, but if she's as stupid as she sounds (to openly admit this in writing), maybe that's less likely.

If it weren't for the fact that she lives next door (is it temporarily? her mother's home or hers?), I'd say she definitely needs to be reported. That's an unacceptable misuse of private information, whatever her intentions.

I think you should discuss this with your wife before taking any action, as she will have to live with the consequences as much as you will.

Following your latest post that she wrote she came across your letters, is just awful. Please do contact the practice manager and let them know why you’ve moved. Yes her intentions are good in some ways, but she really shouldn’t have done that to you, I’m so sorry to you and your wife.

If she saw the letter purely because it's her job to open the post, you need to contact the practice manager and suggest they tighten up their procedures for dealing with post so that no-one can look at personal information about people they know outside work.

@MoonJelly

If she saw the letter purely because it's her job to open the post, you need to contact the practice manager and suggest they tighten up their procedures for dealing with post so that no-one can look at personal information about people they know outside work.

That's not even the issue. Of course, a GP receptionist may come across personal information about people they know (and most stuff is now sent electronically anyway, so this should be rare). The bigger issue with this scenario is the lack of boundaries. She should absolutely not have let the OPs family know, by word or action, that she had come across any of this.

@Jynxed

I’m shocked. I work in the NHS and I can confirm this is absolutely a sackable offence. There is very clear training, repeated annually, about information, privacy and confidentiality. If I even see someone I recognise I discreetly avoid them and would not mention seeing them even to my immediate family. There is an antenatal clinic in my building and even when I have seen someone there repeatedly I say nothing either to them or anyone else. You should report this (and neighbour will be disciplined).

This. You simply don't work in a role like that without it being made crystal clear on day one how wrong it is.

Sackable offence.

One more thought: Even if you decide not to contact her manager, I do think I'd communicate to her that this has been a very difficult experience for you and your wife and that everyone has their own way of working through these things. Essentially, neither of you want to discuss it or be reminded of it any more than you can help. Otherwise, I'd be afraid that she might try to bring it up again, especially since she chose an awareness week as the time to contact you in the first place. I wouldn't want this to become an annual occurrence.

If she gets in a snit about that, then I'd definitely go straight to her employer.

I understand that this may be awkward to do but you really do need to speak to the Surgery Manager and put in a complaint.

This is gross misconduct and shouldn't be ignored.

There is absolutely no way she doesn't know that she isn't allowed to read the files of people she knows, nevermind approach them with regards to sensitive medical information.

She may well do this again.

I'm so sorry for your loss. It must be awful knowing that people know when you haven't had the choice of whether or not that information is shared.

I used to work in pathology and often saw blood tests for neighbours and friends.
I never said a word to anyone ever.
One day a blood test came through for my son's previous employer. She had suffered a still birth. To this day, many years later my ds doesn't know.
This woman is a liability and needs retraining or sacking.

SOrry, ignore my last post - I somehow read the OP as that the neighbour had written about their own wife's problems and that the neighbour's wife was the receptionist, but I misread - might ask for my post to be deleted to avoid a derail!