To report ex friend who looked at my medical files?

[LadyInRainbow]

Over a year ago a friend told me she’d looked at my medical files, because “she wanted to see what was happening” with an issue I was dealing with, I think she thought she was being helpful and it was a shared care issue that also impacted her. I was stunned at the time and asked her not to do it again. I knew she may have need to look at a certain area of my files due to her job in screening and tracking but she had no need to look at this and I told her I was unhappy at the time.

Anyway long story short this friend has now back stabbed me and made up various stories about me.

Would I be unreasonable to make sure she is blocked from viewing my files again, there’s no need for her to access them as the issue to do with her department is long past & while I brushed it off before when I thought she was was a friend her having access now makes me very uncomfortable.

She tracks care times and out comes for a cancer pathway, which I was on brief last year so she had a legitimate reason to access my files, but she had no clinical reason to access the additional info she told me about.

How do you KNOW it was five years ago? OP mentioned it was "over a year" and that was it.

Are you afraid that you are about to be caught? You seem awfully guilty about something.....

I'd rather be a grass than a C You Next Tuesday, like you seem to be. (See, I can play word games too!)

Just remember, if you don't let them know she had previously accessed your records and told you about it, she can do it to someone else and then use it against them. It's giving her free rein to continue.

If you had said something at the time, I imagine it would be a different outcome.
Now, though.. They'll check the audit trail, question her and she'll admit to looking at more than she needed to.
She knows she shouldn't have but her good friend asked her to so she did. Felt bad doing it and hasn't done it since.
Good friend has turned out to be not so good friend and is maliciously trying to use that incident to have me fired because of our falling out.

Of course if there is proof of other such breaches, that won't fly but I'd be wary that YOU becoming part of the incident 🤷‍♀️

Because it didn't bother you enough at the time, I'd simply confirm that your file is only accessed as necessary by the relevant staff and ensure that it stays that way.

@Jutemat It was 5 years ago and the OP is only wanting to be a grass in anger. Nobody likes a grass.

Are you a teenager? I'm not the grown up world, nobody likes their personal medical
Information being accessed by there "friends".

You'll understand once you grow up.

And what made you decide it was five years ago?

You should 100% report her.
Absolutely disgraceful behaviour.

I think you need to report her, OP. For your peace of mind and because her patterns of behaviour are very worrying. It's reasonable to expect her to abuse her position again.

Don't feel guilty. This person has put your back to the wall and she will do it to others.

Also, consider your future health. You might require investigations or treatment that you feel very sensitive about. More so than ever before. Do you need the worry of her snooping and possible gossip spreading detering you from seeking timely intervention?

As someone who used to work in medical records this is extremely serious. It’s not just sackable it’s criminal. You can not access records for any reason not necessary for your job, this includes your own records.

This. And with very good reason.

You should report her. You should have reported her a year ago.

Please please report her.

I work in the NHS and there’s no warnings. It’s all down to your own personal standards of conduct.
Once in the hospital I worked in, a celebrity came into A&E and everyone who looked at his notes without justification was sacked. It’s easy to trace and there’s no excuse.

Report her. How many other people's records has she also accessed? Your's almost certainly isn't the only one.

No. Your not being unreasonable.

However if the incident happened a year ago, its unlikely the system will hold that datsttodate. All system users keystrokes are logged ie what records they accessed?, any additional, edits or deletion of record and as you can imagine, the tables get full very quickly..

Usually the access history is only held for a short period ie 7 days before being wiped. So it very much dependent on system design but if she already had clearance to access yr records, I suspect they're won't be anything flagged as a potential security breach.

Certain record types are ringfenced eg child health records for example, when professionals in other areas try access these, a potential security breach may be flagged.

As she's informed other people, yes I'd certainly report it, even if nothing can be proven, it will mKe her cautious about snooping on other peoples records again anytime soon.

It's gross misconduct and a potentially sackable offence.

She will definitely lose her job if you report this just so you are aware

Almost impossible to prove but will put her on a radar with her managers.

She wo t loose her job unless there has been previous form/history, but will serve as a warning to not snoop again.

I'm an ex application manager at nhs ict team...

Report them. Sorry but that’s a huge breach of trust and an invasion of your privacy. They know the rules on accessing data. Staff know the rules.

They could be looking at other people’s data without their consent or for any work related reason. Either they or their workplace need to tighten up their data security.

Please, please do report her- if she will do it to you she will do it others and it’s a huge breach of trust - they need to be aware

Yes. Totally missed that. As I understand it her friend wasn’t involved in her care. She had no reason to access her medical records. And works for track and trace. I don’t see anywhere where she says her friend was a hcp caring for her requiring access. That’s very different. I have cared for relatives of friends but have always checked they’re comfortable with me being involved. If I wasn’t I would never look at their personal records. Very different.

You want to make trouble for her because you've fallen out. Let's call a spade a spade.

If you were THAT bothered about her looking up your records when it happened, you'd have reported it then.

Reporting her now just makes you look as spiteful as whatever it is she's done to you to cause this fall-out.

No one should be accessing people they know files. Report.

She said she wanted her record restricted so that ex friend couldn't carry on snooping in it. If that results in ex friend losing her job for being a nosy cow and looking in op's medical records without cause and probably the records of others then good.