"Shocking" breach of medical records in Hull
More than 350 patients in Hull have had their medical records accessed by an unauthorised person.
NHS Hull have confirmed a former employee logged on to the records of 358 people across 20 GP practices between May 2008 and June 2009.
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NHS Hull
The person concerned was authorised to use collated and anonymous patient data during their day-to-day work, but was not permitted to access individual patient records.
All patients and GP's practices affected have been informed.
Health managers said they were "appalled" by their former employee's actions.
Kath Tanfield, director of performance, governance and informatics for NHS Hull, said: "We take patient confidentiality very seriously and are disturbed to find that patient confidentiality rules have been breached in such a manner.
"It is shocking to us that an individual who takes on a public service role and who agrees to abide by strict confidentiality agreements should go on to abuse their position and violate patients' rights to privacy."
A full investigation is being carried out by both the health service and police to try and establish how this happened.
Have you been affected? Call James Campbell at the Mail on 315365.
19 Comments
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by Patient, West Hull
Saturday, November 14 2009, 10:51AM
“The person who accessed the records had access to records as he worked for the IT dept within the NHS. The person did far more then the auditing and diabetes which the Hull Daily Mail has claimed (Saturdays paper). Around 90% of the patients affected will be genuine access for NHS purposes not on this persons own accord. I myself have been affected by this and is aware the person did more than access my records but i do not fault NHS Hull for what has happened, they have handled the case very well and effectively. It has not taken over a year to come to light, as the person involved was only discovered in early months of this year.”
by MH, Hull
Friday, November 13 2009, 5:38PM
“I am also one of the patients whose records were accessed.. I'm not sure why they'd even want to look at my records, nothing interesting going on. I'm also not sure what good is going to come out of people contacting the mail, what can they do?”
by Jim, sat in front of the fire
Friday, November 13 2009, 4:50PM
“Some one who works with this sado knows their name just put it on face book or any other public domain website for all to see,easy init”
by SPIKED, East Riding
Friday, November 13 2009, 4:11PM
“It would be again Labour's Human Rights Act to name and shame this person. Remember that at the next election.”
by Big Bird, Sesame Street
Friday, November 13 2009, 3:23PM
“I am one of the patients this has happened to and I have a few choice words to say on the matter! This individual obviously got some perverse pleasure out of this and I think they should be named and shamed so they can feel what its like to have someone pry into their personal information! Its a total invasion of personal details including addresses, telephone numbers and private information! You dont need to ask why they was doing it, its all about power to little people like that! Strange way to get your kicks if you ask me....just goes to show the type of person they really are.....sad!”
by sam, hull
Friday, November 13 2009, 3:01PM
“The Trust have a certain amount of blame at their door surely, after all they are the ones who employed this person. whats to say they havent done this elsewhere and it has gone unnoticed. its digusting that it has taken over a year for this all to come to light”
by newsflash, hull
Friday, November 13 2009, 3:00PM
“Its "shocking" that this is big news considering there are people stealing poppy tins and killing innocent people!”
by patient, hull
Friday, November 13 2009, 2:54PM
“that was to "Nurse" btw”
by patient, hull east
Friday, November 13 2009, 2:52PM
“sounds like u work for them too - maybe you should get on the boat too lol!”
by Sam, Hull
Friday, November 13 2009, 2:50PM
“Until about 5 years ago I worked for a local(ish) company that stored (and in some cases microfilmed) the hard copy medical records for various medical departments in Hull and across much of the North East. Should anybody from the van drivers to the managing director choose to read them they could. In some cases the clients would ask for specific parts of the records to be faxed to them.
Anybody who thinks that their medical records can only be accessed by clinicians is deluding themselves. If anything having the records in electronic form is vastly more secure than in paper form even allowing for the occasional lapse such as this.”