Should I complain after a nurse shared my 16-year-old's medical details?

[Midglet]

My 16yr old had an incident this week that required medical intervention. They didn’t want people, even immediate family and close relatives, to know until they had underwent the operation and we respected those wishes. However a theatre nurse recognised their name and before my child was even under anaesthetic, the nurse had texted a distant relative of ours and divulged that not only was our child in for an operation , but the nature of such. The child was in theatre for four hours but within twenty mins of them being taken in the distant relative , who doesn’t have our mobile numbers, then started calling the hospital demanding details of our child’s prognosis and treatment. Thankfully we had been tipped off very quickly as the relative started contacting other family members ( who themselves weren’t aware of the situation until they themselves contacted us to see what was happening) and were able to request staff to refrain from divulging such. After several failed attempts the relative then turned up at the hospital and demanded access to our child, by which point they were out of surgery. The ward staff asked our 16 yr old ( with us present) if they would like the relative to gain access and our child immediately burst into tears with the thought …the relative is particularly difficult at the best of times and the children try to avoid all contact by their own choice . Thankfully again the staff were able to refuse the relative entry into the ward (Although our child is 16 and should have been in the adult wards a lack of beds had resulted in them being housed in the children’s ward with better security) . Anyway I am sitting stewing about the actions of this initial theatre nurse divulging private medical information to a third party . I know this is a huge breach of confidence and I hope such would be a disciplinary if I was to raise a complaint but I don’t know if I should . The nurse is a friend of the relative hence why she reached out and my family are divided as whether to take action as it will cause trouble within the wider family. Hubby thinks I should just forget it to keep the peace but I think the theatre nurse should be made aware her actions were totally unacceptable. I’ve never complained about anything before . Your thoughts would be appreciated !

Wth. If this is real, absolutely report. They should lose their job.

I find this to be very unbelievable! How would a theatre nurse even have access to their phone which would be left in their locker in the changing room? How did they know who the person on the operating table was related to? When this long distance relative turned up at the hospital how did they know what ward your DC was on?

absolutely bizarre. i wouldn’t hesitate to report her. your poor daughter! hope she is recovering well and this doesn’t affect her too much.

I am normally very much of the opinion that mistakes happen and people shouldn’t be hounded, but this is crackers. Absolutely
dreadful behaviour. Complain!

Is it a "distant" relative or an "estranged" relative? I can't imagine a random great aunt phoning and turning up and demanding to see the child and getting in your business, but a grandmother (for example) who had been kept at arms length for exactly this kind of reason, which means the nurse is totally out of order, what did she think was going to happen?! Outrageous!

We had the same kind of thing in 2020. My mum was taken to hospital and obviously at that time no one was able to go with her. A relatives MiL was a ward sister (in a different dept), and rang my relative to tell her what my mum had, which ward she was on and what the prognosis was (terminal), all before my dad knew anything ( I presume my relative had got in touch with her MiL). I was absolutely livid when I found out and reported the nurse. She was hauled over the coals and both her and her DiL have not spoken to me since....I have no regrets about what I did and would do it again....some lines should never be crossed and that was 1 of them IMO.

Absolutely complain.

I think it's a shame you didn't add a poll as I am sure it would be a rare time of 100% you are not being unreasonable to complain.
Absolutely it would be a disciplinary, but a well deserved one and probably a written warning that will prevent this happening to another patient in the future.

Please complain to protect other children.

On the surface this is terrible conduct and a serious breach of confidentiality. However I’d want to know - do you have safeguarding concerns open? As in has there been any referral about you/DD or your household? And was the relative a father with PR?

That’s a massive breach of confidentiality, please report this. Remember it’s not you causing any trouble/ rifts in the family it’s their actions.

What on earth are you talking about? This makes no difference - in fact it's worse if a nurse is deliberately dabbling in safeguarding or other matters that have their own protocols.
Awful whatabouttery.

Major GDPR breach
nurse should be at least bollocked if not suspended
report asap

100% this could be dangerous. Imagine a nurse divulging (unwittingly) to an abusive partner or similar. It caused a lot of stress and discomfort to your family and DS.

I have a feeling you do a lot to keep the peace with this relative and it's clouded your view of what the right thing to do is.

Report.

100% complain, this is such a breach of his personal information and what he has every right to keep private.

hope your son makes a speedy recovery.

I work in this sort of department and the hospital will have an information governance team or DPO data protection officer that you need I would submit a complaint for the attention off.
I would also request how many times she has accessed his file if she’s not directly caring for him, along with has she accessed anyone else in the family.

this is not the stress you need during such a scary time and the added stress was unnecessary and avoidable.

I imagine it’s something you’ll always worry about when using the Hosptial going forward.

Not relevant. The theatre nurse had no business making contact with the relatives regardless of their relationship or safeguarding concerns. If there were safeguarding concerns of the relatives regardless has PR the would be protocols for the the theatre nurse to follow and raise with the relevant hospital staff whose job it would be to make contact formally not via personal text.

Report. I would also be reporting the relative to MASH, your Local Authority's Multi-Agency Support Hub because their behaviour is a significant safeguarding concern.

Please complain. It's outrageous behaviour by the nurse. If it feels difficult, remember you're doing it for every patient she interacts with, not just your child.

I worked in operating theatres for years, caring for friends, colleagues, famous people and of course thousands of people who were strangers. At no point have I ever said a word about about my interaction with a single one of them. I'm so angry on your DC's behalf. This person needs to be reported, she has behaved shockingly.

Please come back and say you've taken action.

I also agree with poster suggesting you ask for information on whether you child’s clinical notes have been accessed by this nurse.

100% Report !
she went out of her way to pass on confidential medical information. You don’t have to be a medical professional to know that this is unacceptable!
I would hope that her colleagues if aware would also flag this up . Shocking behaviour……

It’s a sackable offence. I would be furious and would report in writing.

For info, the person you need to complain to is the hospital's Caldicott Guardian. Every trust will have one and they will be named on the hospital website.

Ask your husband what the hell is wrong with him and why he doesn't have your child's back? He sounds an absolute wet wipe.

That's absolutely outrageous your poor chkld waking up from a 4 hour op that was delayed for 20 minutes snd then being instantly questioned aboutt their wishes is absolutely disgusting behaviour. Complain, they've only.got themselves to blame of they loose their jobs.

For contrast my mum was friends with an ex nurse as my mum was fighting for her life we talked about a very close estranged relative, the ex nurse knew the ward matron and the estranged relative.but due to ethics didn't tell us. Turns out the matron is step sister to the estranged relatives spouse. Not one word was said, despite the frustration this caused it was still the right way.

Anyone who works in an organisation here in the UK, especially a huge one like the NHS, knows all about GDPR. If my place of work (a large, chaotic one) is anything to go on, that nurse has to do GDPR training and updates a few times a year. She knew that it was a breach of confidentiality, and she did it anyway. She knows that she can be disciplined and fined and so can her employer.

Seriously, how utterly unprofessional of a nurse to get on their mobile and tell someone that their relative is having an operation and the fine details?

Why are you hesitating OP? She is in the wrong completely and needs pulling up on it. I’d threaten to sue them for the distress caused.

Sod your relatives.

The relationship to OPs family is completely irrelevant!

Everyone who works in a hospital is fully aware that patient confidentiality is a legal requirement of their role. Even admin staff. It's taken very seriously.
This nurse can be prosecuted for this breach.