I’ve reported my friend for an NHS confidentiality breech

[BundleOfCookies]

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

She should lose her job for this. Confidentiality is paramount in her role

She will get sacked but they need to prove the case it's gross misconduct.cheeky cow that she is

OP, why did she look at your records to find this out? Had she seen you at the clinic? Was she doing regular spot checks on her friends’ records?

You did the correct thing in reporting her. She will have been trained in patient confidentiality and will know that she should not under any circumstances be passing on personal information. Did she even have any right to access your records (appointment booking for example) or does she just have a good nose around in the data base to satisfy her own curiosity. If it is the latter then she has committed a double breach by reading information she should not be privy to and then passing it on

Read the OP's OP. She is very clear on this.

Yes. They can see if person x has accessed a record. Then they can investigate whether there was a legitimate reason for accessing that record at that time. If there's a legitimate reason to access it and they subsequently gossiped that's harder to deal with than if there is no legitimate reason to be in your record at that time.

Thank you for reporting.

It is a massive information governance/GDPR breach - which she will know because she will have had mandatory annual training telling her so - and almost certainly gross misconduct. She absolutely should lose her job.

She'll be sacked and rightly so

Massive breach.

The only role she's suitable for is away from ANY data... And not in NHS /private practise.

There is NO excuse... It is drummed into you when you work in NHS.

She is so dim /arrogant that she thought she'd get away with it..

I'm sorry @BundleOfCookies that you've been put in this position.

Can the others in the group only imagine if there was something quite private that you would prefer kept private in any of your files?

Karen has the gall to stick her nose in where it was not asked! She would have been logged every time she went into a file, I presume like others have suggested that the ethics committee are completing a thorough audit of all of her logs.

@BundleOfCookies
Well done on reporting... You'll have stopped this woman leaking more personal information.

She lost her job the second she started accessing peoples records. Its even forbidden to check your own records.

You did the right thing. Even if they can't prove it i.e. she just looked over peoples shoulders they can keep an eye on heer for now and she will go mandatory training.

When your friends get pissy with you say imagine if she saw you had chlamydia and started telling people to clean the toilet seat afterwards.

I think you need to refind some of that anger, OP. This wasn’t a mistake where she just happened to find out in the course of her work and then accidentally let it out to your friends.

She deliberately spies on you and your friends - so that she can talk about it. This time it’s the news you’re pregnant, happy news that your friends are going to find out about anyway. But what if it was something else?

What if you or one of your friends had had an abortion, or got difficult news about your baby? What if you had some other medical condition that impacted your pregnancy that you didn’t want to share with her or anyone else, at any point? What if your child has some issues you don’t want to share?

But she goes looking anyway.

Even if she had the discretion not to share it (and there are no guarantees) you would still be talking to her, pretending there was nothing wrong/nothing had happened, and she would know. It would change the way she saw you. And she has deliberately put herself and you (and all the people she’s looked up) in a position where that was a significant possibility.

Do not apologise to her. Let your friends know what she’s like because they are also in a position where she’s seen their records too.

Refind your anger.

Let the NHS audit and disciplinary process take its course (call them up and ask about time lines if it’s leaving you on edge not knowing). Maybe it’s not serious enough to get her fired. But if it is, then that’s because she should not be in the job and it’s good she would not be in a position to do it again.

It's more serious than that. She's already been 'trained' and it didn't work, did it?

Regardless of the confidentiality breach (which is appalling), it's terrible that she told people behind your back; that's entirely your privilege. It's over 40 years ago now, but I still remember the thrill of going into work and telling my workmates I was pregnant, and how surprised and excited they were.

I would ask your "friends" if they are happy that she is reading their confidential medical records? I doubt you are the only friend she has looked up. Nosy people like this should not have access to confidential information. She isn't suited to the job.

I once saw that someone my ds had previously worked with had a stillbirth. That was nearly 20 years ago, afaik my ds doesn’t know and never will from me.

Your friend was so wrong @BundleOfCookies and very stupid to tell people.
Your actions in reporting her will stop others from having their private information gossiped about so don’t feel bad.

She needs to lose her job. Do not feel sorry for her.

They aren’t your friends….how dare she access your medical records and share confidential information!? She deserves to lose her job.

Not only did she consult your file, she spread the news to your friends.
That's actually quite worrying behaviour, seeking to cause intentional harm. Her behaviour could have escalated. She sounds like she was enjoying the power trip, not just being nosy.
I'm not normally one for reporting at every turn but it was absolutely necessary here.

Bloody hell op! Please don’t feel bad about this. I’m amazed your friendship group are being so relaxed.

this is a massive breach of your confidentiality, your friend’s confidentiality and Karen’s working agreement.

Regard audit - duration depends on how ‘computerised’ your hospital’s system is. These keep a log of who has accessed your notes and the date. With old paper files it’s more difficult to prove unauthorised access.

However if you have text messages where she has admitted accessing your notes and those of your friend’s please keep them.

if proven then yes, she will lose her job. Not because of you, but her own actions. I remember confidentiality being drummed into me right from the start 25 years ago! Goodness knows how many people she’s been snooping on.

As for her response and those of your friends. I think it’s pretty appalling. Are they immature?

You did right thing. This won't be 1st time.

She deserves everything she gets. Fuck your other so called friends too.

You were completely right to report her... total violation. Don't feel bad for a minute...

You did the right thing. She was well out of order. If she can't see that, she shouldn't be in the job. I used to work in a bank. I wouldn't have dreamed of looking up people I know and disclose how much money they have to mutual friends.

Sounds like they'd do the same given half a chance.
You are well rid of all of them.