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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel very suspicious of her?

224 replies

Suspicious122 · 28/06/2021 21:42

My friend is a dietician for the NHS.
I have been undergoing some treatment at a different hospital than hers. My issue is she seems to know details which she really shouldn't know especially as my issue is nothing to do with her area of knowledge. I am starting to think she has looked at my file. Aibu to ask if this is possible?

OP posts:
frumpety · 29/06/2021 08:15

You are absolutely positive that DH hasn't told anyone anything ? 'I can't come out on Friday as Ive got to collect Suspicious from hospital' type thing or mentioned something to a relative who in turn has told someone else etc ?

Guavafish · 29/06/2021 08:20

If you are concerned than you can contact PALS.

Closetbeanmuncher · 29/06/2021 08:26

Beaky cow...

Yes OP it will 100% leave a trail from her login I.D, and if she had done that to me I wouldn't want her in my life.

lunar1 · 29/06/2021 08:31

Three staff were sacked from our trust for looking at the notes of a celebrity a couple of years ago. They don't mess around if someone has been snooping. It's easier to sack for this than clinical negligence.

Laydeechez · 29/06/2021 08:34

I work in an government area where I have access to millions of personal records.

Like others have said, if you access records to which you have no business need, it’s really bad.

I’d be sacked for accessing my own records or that of family members.

I once came across a friends file, while answering a phone call (It wasn’t obvious until I entered their reference) but as soon as I saw the name & address I told them I couldn’t continue & reported it.

I’d like to think that in the current climate your friend wouldn’t be so silly to breach data protection guidelines.

Elderflower14 · 29/06/2021 08:36

@lunar1

Three staff were sacked from our trust for looking at the notes of a celebrity a couple of years ago. They don't mess around if someone has been snooping. It's easier to sack for this than clinical negligence.
I think I know who that was... Broken arm???
mynameisbrian · 29/06/2021 08:38

Your friend would know the seriousness of looking at your records and would be sacked. So I find it hard to believe that she would put herself at risk for a nosey at your health records.

IronTeeth · 29/06/2021 08:38

@Suspicious122

The friendship would be over if she looked. It is a huge breach of privacy and not something I could forgive. I will ask for the audit.
It will be over if she hasn't looked too.
nanbread · 29/06/2021 08:40

@Suspicious122

My friend is a dietician for the NHS. I have been undergoing some treatment at a different hospital than hers. My issue is she seems to know details which she really shouldn't know especially as my issue is nothing to do with her area of knowledge. I am starting to think she has looked at my file. Aibu to ask if this is possible?
It's really hard to say.

If you've described your symptoms to her or behaved in a certain way in the past she may have put 2+2 together ages ago but not wanted to tell you? But now you're having treatment she's blurted it out - is this possible?

A friend of mine - with no medical background - did this with another friend, she "diagnosed" her literally years before but didn't tell her because it wasn't her place to and she couldn't be sure she was correct. (It wasn't a life threatening illness or anything like that of course.)

vivainsomnia · 29/06/2021 08:43

You need to consider that if you raise this, it will open an investigation and in all likelihood, she will informed even if it concludes she's done nothing wrong.

She will know it's you. What will be the impact of indeed, you are wrong?

Gilly12345 · 29/06/2021 08:52

Ouch this is not on if she has been nosing around the database at your information, are you sure there is no other way she may have this info?

Weirdlynormal · 29/06/2021 09:02

@Guavaf1sh

Shame that you’d wreck a friendship and not care to get your friend fired over a mere suspicion. What if it turned out that she hadn’t looked?
You seem confused about how these things work!
Thiscantreallybehappening · 29/06/2021 09:05

@SwimmingOnEggshells I know there is no excuse but do you want your friend fired? I would raise it with her before pursuing official channels.

Her "friend" will have known that she shouldn't look up other people's records and what the consequences are so, yes, if she has looked at OP's records she won't be surprised to be fired. Also, really why should she get away with it.

lunar1 · 29/06/2021 09:06

It wasn't @Elderflower14. Shocking that there is more than one. It was a head injury.

Thiscantreallybehappening · 29/06/2021 09:09

Guavaf1sh

Shame that you’d wreck a friendship and not care to get your friend fired over a mere suspicion. What if it turned out that she hadn’t l
looked?

That is why OP is asking for an audit, to establish if she has looked. OP is going to find it difficult to keep the friendship if she suspects she has looked at her records. I had a similar situation years ago but not hospital records my DC University records. I regret not taking my gut feeling further and having it investigated.

Thiscantreallybehappening · 29/06/2021 09:21

OP you are doing the right thing to ask for an audit, in my experience you will regret it if you don't.

Years ago, I had a similar situation but it wasn't medical records it was my DC's Uni records. I'm not going to go into details but this friend had clearly looked up information. Initially, I thought it was just a coincidence but then it became obvious by her actions and what she was saying. I was told by someone else that worked there that I must be mistaken, she couldn't have access only to find out a couple of years later that she actually did have access and could have got this information. By this point, DC had moved on and I felt it was too late to pursue but I really regret not raising it then.

These are your medical records and if she has looked them up it is a very deliberate action and totally wrong. If you don't take your suspicions seriously and look into it, I think you will regret it. Definitely ask for the audit.

LittleDidSheKnow · 29/06/2021 09:22

If you’re sure about this, then you should certainly follow up.
This ‘friend’ will have looked at others’ notes too, if she is that way inclined. This is a horrific invasion of privacy and very unprofessional. It can’t go unchecked.

Elderflower14 · 29/06/2021 09:30

@lunar1

It wasn't *@Elderflower14*. Shocking that there is more than one. It was a head injury.
The celeb I was thinking about likes Castles on Hills!
Butterfly44 · 29/06/2021 09:44

Every action when looking at an electronic health record is logged/recorded. There is no disguising it. It will time stamp and say who looked at it.

mrstrickland · 29/06/2021 09:47

As others have said, every single click of the mouse or keyboard will be monitored on the system they use. There is no way of covering herself if she did access your records. She is not a friend if she thinks its okay to breach your confidentiality.

millymae · 29/06/2021 09:55

I’m surprised that the hospital’s security systems aren’t sufficiently robust to have automatically denied her access to your records if what you are being treated for has no need for a dietician’s input.
If you are as certain as you can be that she couldn’t have found out what she knows from other sources is there not a way you could express your concerns to the Trust without mentioning her specifically - something a long the lines that it has come to your notice that someone not directly concerned with your care seems to know more that they should about your treatment and this being so is it possible for an audit of those who have accessed your notes to be undertaken to ensure trust policies are being complied with.

WeatherSystems · 29/06/2021 09:58

@millymae

I’m surprised that the hospital’s security systems aren’t sufficiently robust to have automatically denied her access to your records if what you are being treated for has no need for a dietician’s input. If you are as certain as you can be that she couldn’t have found out what she knows from other sources is there not a way you could express your concerns to the Trust without mentioning her specifically - something a long the lines that it has come to your notice that someone not directly concerned with your care seems to know more that they should about your treatment and this being so is it possible for an audit of those who have accessed your notes to be undertaken to ensure trust policies are being complied with.
Doesn't really work like that. A patient's record is something that various professionals can add information to. There's no way of knowing for example that Mr Smith who is under a cardiologist isn't also going to be seen by a dietician, an ophthalmologist, a liver specialist, a psychiatrist, so it wouldn't make sense to block clinicians in those roles from accessing his record.
WeatherSystems · 29/06/2021 09:59

@millymae

I’m surprised that the hospital’s security systems aren’t sufficiently robust to have automatically denied her access to your records if what you are being treated for has no need for a dietician’s input. If you are as certain as you can be that she couldn’t have found out what she knows from other sources is there not a way you could express your concerns to the Trust without mentioning her specifically - something a long the lines that it has come to your notice that someone not directly concerned with your care seems to know more that they should about your treatment and this being so is it possible for an audit of those who have accessed your notes to be undertaken to ensure trust policies are being complied with.
It's on professional clinicians to follow the law and their training on data protection, they are trusted and expected to do so. And if they don't, they will face consequences once it comes to light. People in these positions are, rightly, trusted.
MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 29/06/2021 10:09

I'd ask her straight out and watch her reaction,that way if it's obvious she hasn't looked you won't have wrecked a friendship and you'll have a chance to make it up.

Mrgrinch · 29/06/2021 10:11

That's awful OP. I hope you get some answers.