I’ve reported my friend for an NHS confidentiality breech

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I have a (now ex) friend who works for the NHS who works as a clerical officer who we’ll call Karen. I’m in the early stages of pregnancy and haven’t told anyone other than my dh. Had my first midwife appointment and since this, I’ve had some congratulations texts from people within my friendship group. When I queried how they knew I was pregnant, they said they heard it from Karen. When I asked Karen about this she said she saw it on my file, and shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. I’m really upset that she’s just looked me up on her hospitals system like this. She works where my appointments are and openly said that she’s done this and has done it to a few of us in the group so she knows what’s going on. It’s my first pregnancy and I’m so anxious and I’m so upset so many people know about it.

At the time I was so angry I instantly filed a complaint to the hospital. Information governance then contacted me to say they’d be conducting an internal audit. This was 3 weeks ago and I’ve not heard anything since. I’m still upset with Karen but I now feel so guilty I’ve done this. I don’t want her to loose her job. Karen knows I’ve done this because I’ve told her and she’s livid and none of our mutual friends are talking to me now.

Is there anyone here who works for the NHS who can explain what happens in these situations? I’m guessing everything is fine because I’ve not heart anything from information governance since but I’m so worried

As she's admin she's unlikely to loose her job. They may dismiss her from the position but they will offer her retraining and she will be paid on suspension before they move her to somewhere else within nhs.
You did the right thing. She doesn't just access your pregnancy records but what ever you have on your notes with regards to past medical history including baby loss, family history etc she's likely to read. She even knows your blood type and what jabs you're due.
This woman was in such a position of trust and she completely violated it. Well done for standing up to her.

Of course they are but you dont think that's the persons name do you?

We all know she's using it as a derogatory slur but I assume most are concentrating on the records breach issue

No idea but from what she said to me when I asked her about it was it seems like she does regular spot checks on us

You did the right thing, she had no right to snoop around or announce your pregnancy. You don't need friends like that, wait until it happens to your other friends in the friends group, they wouldn't be happy at all.

Gross misconduct. Summary dismissal.

accessing your OWN record?

but that makes no sense?

everyone should be able to access their own records, it's THEIR records

the rest of this, totally understand and agree

If an audit can show that she’s accessed your records without having a business need to do so, then she will definitely lose her job. I have a friend and three family members who work for the NHS and who have access to patient records. It is drummed into them from day 1 that looking up the records of people you know, just to have a nose, is absolutely forbidden and there will only ever be one outcome to doing it. The fact that she’s disclosed your pregnancy to mutual friends makes it a million times worse. I also work in a job where I have access to some incredibly personal information about people. There’s no pretending you didn’t realise or you forgot; it’s the number 1 rule and we all know the consequences for breaking that rule.

Your mutual friends are being really thick. How would they feel if she’d disclosed Kate had a genital herpes diagnosis in her early 20s? Or was discussing what was going on in Sarah’s marriage that she wanted an abortion? They’d all be screaming from the rafters for her to be sacked. If they cannot see what the problem is, or think that it’s not serious enough for her to warrant losing her job, they are idiots and you have not lost anything if they are not in your life anymore.

I work in HR and this is gross misconduct and very high chance of dismissal. It's shocking what she has done. What if u or ur friends had personal info that u didn't want people to know. It's disgraceful. If that is what she does with friends goodness knows what she does with other people data.

The likelihood you won't hear anything for a file as they will be in touch with ICT to do an audit on every file she has looked at and if there was a genuine reason for it. They may go back several months/years depending what they find.

You won't be shared with the outcome of Karen but they will advise if ur complaint has been upheld or not.

P.S. DO NOT feel guilty- she abused her position of trust with access to information.

Congrats on your baby news

In 2023/24 there was a case concerning the ICO and a secretary at the London Clinic who accessed more than 150 patients’ records without consent or clinical justification. She faced criminal proceedings, was found guilty and fined.

What the ‘friend’ has done is criminal. That your friends OP don’t see this, don’t appreciate that amongst them any of them may have stuff in their records they prefer no-one knows about - both the friend who looked it up and those that she shared it with - seems to indicate they are not great people either. Perhaps you should point out that she now knows their private information and may already have shared it with other people. The STD they had when they were 19, the abortion when they were not ready to start a family, the fact they regularly get piles? All accessed and ready to share whenever she feels like it.

Not only has she shown you who she is, but she’s exposed your friends too. You deserve better.

Don't feel guilty at all. You did the right thing. It looks like your friend didn't do this as a one-off, but does it on a regular basis and thinks nothing of it. She is really out of order and unsuitable for the job she is doing. If feel more confident knowing that when people spot such breaches they report the. Thank you for doing so.

Does she just look up all her friends/family medical records In her spare time?

1 She looked you up for no other reason but to be nosey.

2 She then took what she read and began gossiping about it.

3 How you or any off your friends could trust she won't do it again I don't know.
She needs to accept her consequences she knew she shouldn't off done it, and as for your friends am sure they would feel differently if she done it to them she actually probably has read all their private medical history too.

Are you trolling the SPAG people ?😂

If you want to access your own medical records then you do it the same way as everyone else has to. You don’t log on and just help yourself to the information.

Ironically to protect her identity. I posted this thread I guess for reassurance that I have done the right thing because I feel guilty.
I’m really sorry this has upset you. It was the first name I could think of because it fits in with the jokes you usually hear but I should have thought that it is offensive

Edit: I tried to address this to the lady who was upset I had used the name Karen to protect my exfriends identity

She will have signed some sort of NDA when she took the job so she has breached her contract - not your fault.

And it was not her news to tell everyone.

And as for your other friends, how would they feel if one of them had an illness or and STI and Karen was gossiping about it, they would not like it if the shoe was on the other foot, and you might want to tell them that

Surely she should have thought about the risk of losing her job when she decided to nose around in her friends' private information.

She needs the sack. No way could she not have known.

I didn’t know they were different words. My spelling isn’t the best

This isn't a typically dyslexic error, in fact. None of the rest of the post suggests dyslexia.

Not PALS. The Caldicott Guardian.

Sorry that was to the poster suggesting PALS

How dare she!!! Im amazed everyone in your friendship group isnt similarly outraged at her brass neck, snooping in their files to see personal medical details. What if there were something deeply private in there....a cancer diagnosis, an STD etc etc?? Is she a bully - does she talk over people and intimidate them so perhaps they are scared to go against her? It sounds like shes been riding roughshod over everyones rights to privacy for a while....

Don't feel bad what she has done is beyond disgusting

I had to research this a little while ago as my dd was in a similar (but not the same) situation a while ago. The info I found suggested they would deep dive the staff members login to see if they had made any other unwanted searches. They take it all very seriously and if there were further searches (sounds like there is in this case) then they will be invited to a hearing.

I wouldn't feel guilty, she absolutely deserves to get punished. Even the loss of her job would be a fitting punishment. She brought this on, not you. It's a horrendous misuse of her 'power'. Just to be clear, you can get sacked for searching up your own records. They are very strict on this

Exactly - and why exactly would she be snooping in there, if not to gain access to information that makes her feel she somehow has an advantage over everyone else by knowing stuff....what a deeply unpleasant person.