NHS staff accessing medical records inappropriately in high profile or tragic news stories.

[HavfrueDenizKisi]

What the hell is wrong with people who work for the NHS and still somehow think it’s ok to voyeuristically access the medical records of patients who have been in the news?

Just read this article about 40 members of staff being investigated over the inappropriate viewing of this poor boy’s medical records. Read a similar article a few weeks back about the medical records of the victims of the Nottingham attack being accessed. Something like 11 people were sacked and 12 given final warnings about that (somehow suggesting it wasn’t their first time doing so).

Surely it is pretty fucking clear when you start working for the NHS that this is Absolutely Not Allowed. Plus it must be clear that there is a digital trail left behind of anyone accessing records. Honestly the mind boggles.

Link to article on BBC:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg5kvpdd15o

I agree, but it's naïve to rely on people to do the right thing. Even healthcare workers can be scumbags and indulge their morbid curiosity. There needs to be tighter controls over who can access these things.

Where I worked it was crystal clear you do not access anyone’s records you don’t have a need to do so for work purposes. It was recorded who looked at what, audited very strictly, etc. We dismissed people who breached that. I am gobsmacked how many people seem to do it, but I guess sometimes voyeurism wins out!

It is made clear, and the vast majority of staff don't do this. Those who do are disciplined once they are discovered.
Im not sure what else you think should happen

Tabloid newspapers do contact hospital staff, offering money for details. That needs to be cracked down on

In schools only a very few members of staff can access any medical events.
why is this not the case in the NHS?

It's not just in high-profile cases, either. Every time you mention it on here, you get people saying staff would never risk their jobs to look at medical records, but they do it all the time.

The number of times I heard the receptionists at my local GP talking about patients when I worked in a cafe as a teen was wild, and I've come across that kind of thing many more times over the years.

Because so many different departments can be involved in the care and management of a patient.

I worked both in mental health and administration (head office) in the nhs and it was ABUNDANTLY clear this was gross misconduct. It can be easily checked and dealt with and I can only assume these people are young or stupid

In 16 years I’ve never done it and never would. I know someone who has though. I’ve also sacked a receptionist who worked for me who did.

At the very basic level do not look. certainly do not repeat it as has happened in both cases I mentioned

Presumably because many many more need to access medical records in a healthcare setting because of the nature of the place of work.
That said, everyone knows that medical records should only be accessed for specific reasons.

However, humans are humans and there will be those that are good, bad and stupid in all all walks of life. Hopefully, publicising these events and the strict disciplining of the transgressors will be a deterrent for the bad and stupid amongst them.

@TBC99yes not much more can happen than losing their jobs or being disciplined however it’s the fact that they do this knowing this gets audited and they will get caught and they still go ahead. I mean it does suggest a much wider problem IMO.

It’s happened to me and the person who did it talked her way out of it claiming she was “concerned for Ladybug’s wellbeing” but she had absolutely no legitimate reason for what she did. I find it appalling that in this country there is no such thing as medical confidentiality unless it suits them.

In all of the cases I'm personally aware of, it was middle-aged women doing it, and I'm not being ageist or sexist there because I am a middle-aged woman myself. That's just my experience. The mind boggles why anyone would risk it.

YANBU and I hope they all get fucking sacked

It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that all 40 people actually needed to access the notes - the article itself says they're still exploring whether any of those people were inappropriately looking. There isn’t really much in the story as it stands…but it does make a change from hearing about the weather.

Ex NHS

It is made very clear and it’s take. V seriously hence they sackings

Every year you must complete GDPR as part of statutory and mandatory training

There is absolutely no excuse for it. Those people were v ignorant not to realise that digital footprints are tracked and flagged.

Every time I access a patient record that was not on my case load for treatment I would need to added a reason as to why including accessing secondary care records for background screening. The names of who has accessed the record and exactly what has been clicked on is recorded.

What amazes me is that they still do it even though they have been warned not to.

It's probably a reflection of just how many people work in the NHS.

If the medical systems were a bit better joined up then it would probably be possible to have some sort of patrolling AI that spots when records have been accessed inappropriately.

The issue on high profile cases to me is less serious, because it is obvious that these people will get caught.

Its the "nosey neighbour" and relatives ones that go under the radar.

@FilmsandBooks hearing people disclose details of patients records is also a breach of GDPR even if they had a legitimate reason for accessing in the first place

I wondered if anyone was going to raise this because I've seen threads on here too. For example overbearing MIL who works as GP receptionist and DIL is concerned she can access records about IVF.

The usual response is that you would never do it because you would get sacked.

So I guess people do do it and they do get sacked. You can't do much more than take someone's livelihood away, unless it's such as grave breach that the person gets prosecuted too, but that's usually for things like selling personal information.

In the case of Kate Middleton the person(s) caught were doing it for money. I presume it would have been big money, too. I believe her medical records were tracked such that the culprits were immediately identified.

Other searchers are just plain nosey. I can imagine the type…

I wondered if anyone was going to raise this because I've seen threads on here too. For example overbearing MIL who works as GP receptionist and DIL is concerned she can access records about IVF.

The usual response is that you would never do it because you would get sacked.

So I guess people do do it and they do get sacked. You can't do much more than take someone's livelihood away, unless it's such as grave breach that the person gets prosecuted too, but that's usually for things like selling personal information.

I think that saying they "will get caught" should be swapped for "might get caught". I would bet they've looked up records out of nosiness loads of times and got complacent purely because nobody has noticed yet. Although it's very easy to find out who has accessed a record, its not as if there's always an alert that its happened - someone has to actively audit it. So if they've looked up neighbours, friends, local new stories etc in the past they will probably have got away with it.

Maybe it's because that demographic dominate in those kinds of jobs?
I'm really not sure why you're making a point about middle aged women?.

They don’t even always get sacked!

No point. The poster I was replying to said they must be young or stupid and in my experience that’s not the case. It was usually older women. Plenty of male staff were struck off for much worse, sexual abuse not being an uncommon one!