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.

Report her.

I think surgery admins have access to NHS records when required to update them

Do you have something like SystmOne set up? You can go into your account there, and it will show you who has accessed your file and when. You can't see to what extent they've accessed it, though, as it can be from receptionists looking at the basic details only to make an appointment, to a clinician reading the acdtual notes. But you can get an idea of who has looked at least. The records seem to go back quite a while, so you could see if her name appears more often than you'd have expected, or in a time period beyond when she would have potentially had reason to look.

This is appalling! You must report her, she has no integrity or sense of loyalty. This is possibly a sacking offence. I would not let her be in a position where confidentiality is a qualification for the job, if I managed her. If she is using this information against you, it may even be a police matter.

This. It feels like you are only reporting her to get one over on her now you have fallen out. She definitely shouldn't have done it, and you would certainly have been within your rights to report her, but reporting now is quite underhand

Nah. GDPR makes it very clear, and health services have got more strict on this specific point as time has gone on. Even if a friend, relative or colleague gives you permission or even asks, you should not access their information you have no need to see. OP wouldn't get dragged into the investigation at all. Data Controllers aren't daft, they know stuff gets tit for tat and that's one reason this rule exists, so employees can't blame the other person.

I agree with reporting it OP. If she is did it to you she will do it to others.

I don't work in healthcare but in my job I do have access to people's very private information. I know beyond a doubt that I would lose my job if I were to be nosy enough to delve into a friend's records, even if it were under the pretext of "understanding what they are going through". It's drilled into us at every turn.

Yes, you should have reported it at the time but your concern that she may access your records again are genuine, especially if she has got away with it before and thinks she can again.

Absolutely and is gross misconduct to access someone’s notes for personal information, and to break confidentiality.

She needs to be reprimanded for this.

No, there will be controls snd warnings dependent on the application in use and the degree of security controls set up.

What reason did she give for accessing yr file, was she trying to be helpful ie suggest you ho on another consultant waiting list etc.

Also you mentioned there was a friend present, did she ever explain why she mentioned it?

Finally has she shared/discussed with someone else what she found?

Not friends or family though. A serious offence.

This is definitely revenge. It's nothing to do with 'so she can't access my file again' it's literally just so you have one up on her. Pathetic and immature. If you were that bothered you'd have reported it at the time whether you trusted her then or not

Not true. You can access friends, neighbours etc medical notes in the course of your work, unless that person requested you not to be. In fact, many of the admin staff in my local surgery live in the same village as the surgery. Obviously all info needs to be kept confidential.

I would tell her to pack it in or you will report her and yes they will be able to trace if she has looked at your records.
if she says she does not care tell her you are reporting her. Even if you don’t it will make her sweat

Also those saying it’s tit for tat I think the op is worried that now they are not friends she will just keep on looking at her records. It’s one thing a friend doing it but quite another thing an enemy. Reporting her would mean it would stop

Kayla I think the op is saying now they are not friends any more she is worried ex friend will keep doing this

People who abuse their access to confidential records OUGHT to be sacked.

That's one way of looking at it. I'd say the friend did something that is totally illegal and op protected her by not reporting it at the time because of the friendship. Now that friendship doesn't really exist, shouldn't the friend face the consequences of her actions?

What are you going to do @LadyInRainbow ?

Lots of good advice here, especially from people working in the same field as her.

So why didn't you report it then, and why now?

It's a total violation of privacy. So what if it's seen as revenge now to report her, she deserves to be reprimanded.

I had a friend who currently works as a Doctors Receptionist and she was having an affair with a married man, whenever he or his wife came in for themselves or their children, she would look up why afterwards. The first time she did this was because she didn't know where he lived, so she looked at his records to find his address and then when we hung out later that evening, she drove to his house and we sat outside for about five minutes before we left again because someone looked out the window and she panicked. (I didn't know what was going on at the time or where we were otherwise I'd have refused to even go in the first place!) even after that incident, she would tell me why he or she came in, so she was breaking confidentiality there too. As well as this, she looked up and old colleague we knew who sort of dropped off the face of the earth when she left the company we both worked for (not in the medical field) and she looked up their records to find their phone number to text them because they weren't on social media.

So for anyone saying that this is likely a false story or unlikely to be true because of lack of access to records and such, it does happen and it can happen quite easily.

Also, no we're not friends anymore for obvious reasons!

They will say but she doesn't.... then you'll be left not knowing if she still is or not. If they knew she already had there would have been consequences.

Because now she's really taking the piss. Clearly op has never forgiven the incident ( rightly so) and now said "friend" is going about spouting bullshit about op. I'd feel inclined to get her back in her box too.
But tbf this should have been reported at the time, easy said I know. I suppose then op didn't know how much it would worry her.
Friend is clearly a bit of a dick, what destruction could she do when she knows she's in trouble op?

I'm a nurse various family member and friends have asked me to look at their medical records to get results or explain things.....never once have I done this due to this issue.

Let's be honest if you had a doctor in your family or was friends with one you would ask their opinion on certain medical things....off course you would.

When it's suits the family member/friend it's OK to bend the rules a bit but the min you fall out or have an argument you could lose your job no thank you not worth the hassle.

I wouldn't report her but I'd tell a few people that she looked at your records.

I worked for a govt dept and a couple of daters were looking up men from dating profiles to see if they were married or not. It came to light and they said sorry. Missed one increment.