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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To fear a family member is accessing our medical records

395 replies

durdledoo · 03/03/2022 08:51

I'm not really sure what to do about this and would love some practical advice to stop this potentially happening.
My mil is a nurse, she works at the local surgeries that me, my husband and my children attend. She has previously gone through my husbands medical notes before and confronted him on health complications he's had in the past and not told her about (this was a long time ago, but he was in his early twenties at the time).
A few comments recently has be concerned she's done it again. My husband had 2 drs apts and we only told her about one. She / fil has asked me several times now if dh is okay and asked about his second drs apt (that we haven't even discussed with them)
They know about one health issue and he's openly discussed it with them but the other is very private.
The other day mil said "how is dh, is he okay" and I just replied "yes, he went down and has been referred" (discussing said health issues we've told them about) and she said "well, he went down again didn't he?" Basically prying into the outcome of this second apt she should know nothing about.

I can't prove anything, but considering previous and the fact she's digging (a lot) and acting very stand off-ish I am legitimately concerned she's been at our medical notes (or at least dh's) but i wouldn't put it past her to look through all of ours. We've had lots of ongoing problems in the past with boundaries and the relationship has never been simple.

Is there anything I can do. Would loving surgery completely help? She works all over locally so I fear not.

Can we ask the surgery to make out information inaccessible to her?

Looking for some practical steps I could take to protect our privacy. There's absolutely no point raising this with her, she will inevitably deny it and previously when she went through her adult sons records he was the one "in trouble" for not telling her about his health concerns...Confused

OP posts:
FabulouslyFab · 16/03/2022 15:38

@longtompot

Your thread popped into my mind last night *@durdledoo* Do you and your dh have online access to your medical records? I recently went onto mine and saw a tab called patient audit and when I clicked on it, it showed all the people who had accessed my medical records, including me, date and time. It's through system online, so if you or your dh haven't contacted the surgery yet, it might be a good way to have a look for proof.
Really useful information that I didn’t know, despite having the app! Thank you 👍
longtompot · 16/03/2022 15:45

@FabulouslyFab you are welcome! It's under records and then records audit, just checked again. I never knew it was there, I was just being nosey as to what I could see on my records.

Satsumaeater · 16/03/2022 18:33

I can't access my records via the NHS app so it might not work for the OP but it's a good idea. I actually think it's more likely that she's seen the appointment on the computer but hasn't accessed the records to see what it was. But that doesn't matter, if she's asking you about appointments, she is still breaching regulations.

Our practice manager doesn't deal with concerns or complaints face to face so it might be the same at the OP's surgery.

Dered · 28/06/2022 16:55

I have found out from PALS that my medical records have definitely been accessed by a member of my family at our local hospital where she is a Sister on a totally unrelated ward to my admission illness.

How could she have known I attended hospital?
What will happen next ? I don't want to damage her career but I want her to stop looking at my notes . I'm anxious for my whole family
Can I find out if it's happened previously to me and my husband and our children ?
She once told me she had looked at another family members notes and that they didn't have the illness they said
Also, the first time I contacted PALS my query was mysteriously lost for 6 weeks by her department
I'm finding this a bit stressful tbh
Any advice ? TIA

Bixlepie · 28/06/2022 17:57

Wow, sorry this has happened. Surely she does need to lose her job?

Peanutlicious · 28/06/2022 18:06

My ex husband did this and was sacked from his job. Due to history of DV, the hospital safeguarding officer phoned me and called the police who visited me. It was all taken very seriously.

Icansleep · 28/06/2022 18:36

@Dered It may be worth starting your own new thread for this as this is a really old one

crosstalk · 28/06/2022 19:26

@DefiniteTortoise has the right idea.

Just get your family's records sealed after talking to the practice manager about access. I would have presumed all records are sealed to all but NHS staff but since MIL is NHS staff there may be a higher level of security?? You could say that you believe, but are not sure, that someone has been accessing them over and beyond the doctor/staff involved so could they check?

2bazookas · 28/06/2022 19:34

She would probably lose her job if the practice manager found out.

SolasAnla · 29/06/2022 08:20

Dered · 28/06/2022 16:55

I have found out from PALS that my medical records have definitely been accessed by a member of my family at our local hospital where she is a Sister on a totally unrelated ward to my admission illness.

How could she have known I attended hospital?
What will happen next ? I don't want to damage her career but I want her to stop looking at my notes . I'm anxious for my whole family
Can I find out if it's happened previously to me and my husband and our children ?
She once told me she had looked at another family members notes and that they didn't have the illness they said
Also, the first time I contacted PALS my query was mysteriously lost for 6 weeks by her department
I'm finding this a bit stressful tbh
Any advice ? TIA

If the system is working correctly in your family members workplace you should not have to do anything. Her employer will have a policy about Data Protection and Professional Conduct. She will be in breach of both unless she can prove that she had a professional need to access the data. Her employer is obliged to treat her in a fair way. She is a professional who has received training about this and as a adult made a personal choice to follow a cource of action.

You should go back to PALS and ask them what process and proceedures the hospital can put in place to prevent another data breach.

reliahag · 29/06/2022 08:41

Have you posted about this before? Sounds very familiar.

Tdcp · 29/06/2022 09:11

@reliahag This is the original post from March. Someone's commented on it yesterday

reliahag · 29/06/2022 09:24

Tdcp · 29/06/2022 09:11

@reliahag This is the original post from March. Someone's commented on it yesterday

I’m sure the exact same post was posted a couple of years ago.

Blinky21 · 29/06/2022 09:26

It sounds like she has a MH problem, it's not normal to take equipment home to test relatives or hover over their beds with vaccines! She seems to have an unhealthy preoccupation with you DH's health. I don't think she sounds mentally fit to work in health care

Dered · 29/06/2022 09:49

Thank you for the advice . I jumped on this thread as it had similarities

Dered · 29/06/2022 09:51

Thank you for the advice . I jumped on this thread as it had similarities

MallowMagic · 29/06/2022 10:04

reliahag · 29/06/2022 09:24

I’m sure the exact same post was posted a couple of years ago.

There is more than one person in the world with relatives that work in healthcare. Honestly what is the point in a reply like that. MN is full of the same sorts of posts and most experiences are similar.

Are you really so hard of thinking that you don't consider that over a couple of years this situation could have arisen more than once?

Tdcp · 30/06/2022 09:23

@MallowMagic

I wonder what the point in your comment is more than my original reply tbh

MallowMagic · 30/06/2022 09:36

Tdcp troll hunting isn't allowed, people posting accusations like this on a thread recently chased the op off.

If you have a problem with a thread report, don't try and imply they aren't genuine because once, in a forum of millions of users, you read something similar.

Tdcp · 30/06/2022 09:51

@MallowMagic accusations like what? Someone asked if this thread had been posted before and I pointed out that it was from March.. which it is. I wasn't horrible to anyone, I didn't call any one names. You've taken it upon yourself to call me a troll, saying I've chased off the op, that I have an issue with this thread and called me hard of thinking!

Frankly, you're the one with a problem here and you need to take a hard look at yourself and re-evaluate what you think is ok to send to people.

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