There are lots of stupid rules and policies in the NHS but this is not one of those occasions. Patients' rights to privacy and confidentiality are about as sacrosanct as it gets.
She obviously shouldn't be working in a role with access to sensitive information given her behaviour.
Yes… she’s massively breaching the information governance and data protection laws we have in healthcare. I’m afraid you’ll have to report her and don’t feel bad because she had a chance to learn from her past mistake but it is your duty to report known breaches and you don’t want her dragging you down with her if you ignored it and someone else ended up finding out and reporting it
That’s exactly what my manager said for the first time, it absolutely boggled me that she shared that information in the first place and she got very upset when she had the meeting with HR so I was hoping that would be it. I obviously deeply care about my brother so my concern level has increased but also feel like I shouldn’t know about anything if he doesn’t tell me; even if it is a blood test!
He’s shared with me before about medical issues but my his premonition, he’s in fact a very a private person, and like everyone would not like family members to be told of anything
This is exactly it… she told you something your brother may not have wanted you to know and identified him as well…. Sounds like this job isn’t right for her if she can’t respect these rules. It sucks but you need to protect yourself and the patients who trust their healthcare to be kept confidential.
Thank you for the information all, I will be reporting her, I was just looking for the reassurance that I wasn’t over reacting.
The first case was about someone that I went to school with and is a brother of a mural friend, so hadn’t thought about him in years and would say I hardly know him, but now I know quite a bit of medical history that I should not know at all and I felt so weird knowing about it. When she said an about mentioning to his sister I physically grimaced!
She knows some medical history on my brother, so I don’t get why she would disclose this. I wouldn’t even be posting it if she said “oh saw your brother today!” And left it as that.
Forgot to say I will be reporting on Monday
Absolutely report this. Doing the right thing is not always easy, if it was, nobody would ever have a problem with it.
Data breaches like these are serious, and you're absolutely correct to consider patients as such, and not to get involved with swapping information of a personal nature.
My mum was a senior cardiac nurse and even now she doesn’t mention patient names, just a “oh there was a patient once who blahblahblah”
We all have frustration of work, and to say “oh had a hard to deal patient today” is fine, even “had a sad case of a young person with cancer” as nothing is identifiable about that and is human nature to share sadness and express sorrow for other people.
She is caring and good at her job but I would say is a gossip with the wrong reasons
Report her and report her now.
She had her second chance. She blew it.
She’s probably been gossiping about other patients as well and breaching confidentiality, and you just don’t know about those.
Do not feel guilty. You haven’t done anything wrong. She should feel embarrassed and guilty.
Just a reminder, this isn't just a HR thing - it is illegal. She is breaking the law and the patients would have the right to report her to the police. Hopefully the patients have been informed following the breach.
Honestly at the very least she should be fired now. She has shown she cannot be trusted.
This! Breaking patient privacy and confidentiality in the medical sector is illegal.
She needs to be fired. And well done OP for having the courage to speak up against a friend. It's tough, but you're doing the right thing. Often times, the correct choice isn't the easy one.
People like this lack the awareness of the enormous amount of trust that is placed upon them when working in healthcare.
Unfortunately it sounds like she isn't someone who can be relied on to carry the responsibility of that trust if she continues to keep gossiping with you about other people's business.
Yes, Lord knows what else she’s doing with that information and who she’s divulging private and confidential information too. She may think it’s “okay” to tell you as you work together, but you’ve already told her you’re not interested and she keeps telling you. Good on you for taking this so seriously, as it should be. Thank you :)
She was ranting and raving at the report as obviously HR wasn’t going to tell her what she said and who reported it, and I was saying “just don’t share anything personal about any patient to cover yourself and only share information with those who need it” “maybe the course will refresh your knowledge” etc “take this as learning curve and don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to share about yourself”
Please please report her.
I have to access many different notes daily but I always leave documentation to say why charts/notes were looked at. I have always had direct care with those I've looked at. On the occasion I've opened someone's by accident I still document opened in error .
This is such a data breach and truly upsets me. Unfortunately it also happens a lot.
Patients trust us and by breaching that trust ...well it's awful. Friend or no friend she knows right from wrong. If she doesn't understand/care about the severity of this then the NHS is not the place for her
This is awful. She can't be trusted to work in this job. I work in oncology and do come across patients I know on a regular basis but I would never tell my family or friends about them being under the service
I had to do this for a third party’s support call with the health and care number team the new third party’s was basically showing live patients records.
Yes it was epic that supplier
Kind of scary
I've dealt with many patients that I know, and I also process patients' bloods. I've seen loads of people that I know, what they're getting done, and what is happening.
I wouldn't dream of asking them in person. It's their private life. If they choose to tell people, that is up to them.
As another person said, thank you for being that person who keeps information to themselves and taking this seriously.
I would inform HR. Keep the records of data breach, and if it's in text form, that is something else you can share.
I am massively adamant on patient confidentiality and data protection.
I feel that if a colleague was such a good friend, I'd have been able to approach the issue directly and have a conversation with them about it privately, as opposed to go straight to the manager. Maybe that's just me.
I'm not being funny but given the fact that she was warned about her behaviour previously and didn't take heed of it suggests to me that she isn't serious (at all). To be honest, whatever happens next isn't your problem.
She only has herself to blame at this point.
The fact that she doesn't put two and two together and suspect that you reported her in the first instance suggests to me that she more than likely plays blabbermouth with other colleagues as well which is extremely worrisome.
I just want to say thank you for taking this seriously and doing the right thing. I'm not sure many would.
I second this. I would be absolutely livid if I was the patient being talked about like this.
Absolutely! Everyone should have a right to privacy. She has not learned her lesson.
There are lots of stupid rules and policies in the NHS but this is not one of those occasions. Patients' rights to privacy and confidentiality are about as sacrosanct as it gets. She obviously shouldn't be working in a role with access to sensitive information given her behaviour.
Yes… she’s massively breaching the information governance and data protection laws we have in healthcare. I’m afraid you’ll have to report her and don’t feel bad because she had a chance to learn from her past mistake but it is your duty to report known breaches and you don’t want her dragging you down with her if you ignored it and someone else ended up finding out and reporting it
That’s exactly what my manager said for the first time, it absolutely boggled me that she shared that information in the first place and she got very upset when she had the meeting with HR so I was hoping that would be it. I obviously deeply care about my brother so my concern level has increased but also feel like I shouldn’t know about anything if he doesn’t tell me; even if it is a blood test! He’s shared with me before about medical issues but my his premonition, he’s in fact a very a private person, and like everyone would not like family members to be told of anything
This is exactly it… she told you something your brother may not have wanted you to know and identified him as well…. Sounds like this job isn’t right for her if she can’t respect these rules. It sucks but you need to protect yourself and the patients who trust their healthcare to be kept confidential.
Yes, you need to report this ASAP.
Thank you for the information all, I will be reporting her, I was just looking for the reassurance that I wasn’t over reacting. The first case was about someone that I went to school with and is a brother of a mural friend, so hadn’t thought about him in years and would say I hardly know him, but now I know quite a bit of medical history that I should not know at all and I felt so weird knowing about it. When she said an about mentioning to his sister I physically grimaced! She knows some medical history on my brother, so I don’t get why she would disclose this. I wouldn’t even be posting it if she said “oh saw your brother today!” And left it as that. Forgot to say I will be reporting on Monday
Absolutely report this. Doing the right thing is not always easy, if it was, nobody would ever have a problem with it. Data breaches like these are serious, and you're absolutely correct to consider patients as such, and not to get involved with swapping information of a personal nature.
My mum was a senior cardiac nurse and even now she doesn’t mention patient names, just a “oh there was a patient once who blahblahblah” We all have frustration of work, and to say “oh had a hard to deal patient today” is fine, even “had a sad case of a young person with cancer” as nothing is identifiable about that and is human nature to share sadness and express sorrow for other people. She is caring and good at her job but I would say is a gossip with the wrong reasons
Report her and report her now. She had her second chance. She blew it. She’s probably been gossiping about other patients as well and breaching confidentiality, and you just don’t know about those. Do not feel guilty. You haven’t done anything wrong. She should feel embarrassed and guilty.
Just a reminder, this isn't just a HR thing - it is illegal. She is breaking the law and the patients would have the right to report her to the police. Hopefully the patients have been informed following the breach. Honestly at the very least she should be fired now. She has shown she cannot be trusted.
This! Breaking patient privacy and confidentiality in the medical sector is illegal. She needs to be fired. And well done OP for having the courage to speak up against a friend. It's tough, but you're doing the right thing. Often times, the correct choice isn't the easy one.
I am awaiting a hearing at County Court for someone totally unconnected to my NHS 'care' accessing my records on three occasions.
People like this lack the awareness of the enormous amount of trust that is placed upon them when working in healthcare. Unfortunately it sounds like she isn't someone who can be relied on to carry the responsibility of that trust if she continues to keep gossiping with you about other people's business.
Yes, Lord knows what else she’s doing with that information and who she’s divulging private and confidential information too. She may think it’s “okay” to tell you as you work together, but you’ve already told her you’re not interested and she keeps telling you. Good on you for taking this so seriously, as it should be. Thank you :)
She was ranting and raving at the report as obviously HR wasn’t going to tell her what she said and who reported it, and I was saying “just don’t share anything personal about any patient to cover yourself and only share information with those who need it” “maybe the course will refresh your knowledge” etc “take this as learning curve and don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to share about yourself”
Jeeze hope she stops soon :/
You did the right thing. That 'friend' has committed a crime.
Please please report her. I have to access many different notes daily but I always leave documentation to say why charts/notes were looked at. I have always had direct care with those I've looked at. On the occasion I've opened someone's by accident I still document opened in error . This is such a data breach and truly upsets me. Unfortunately it also happens a lot. Patients trust us and by breaching that trust ...well it's awful. Friend or no friend she knows right from wrong. If she doesn't understand/care about the severity of this then the NHS is not the place for her
Report again and do a datix
This is awful. She can't be trusted to work in this job. I work in oncology and do come across patients I know on a regular basis but I would never tell my family or friends about them being under the service
I had to do this for a third party’s support call with the health and care number team the new third party’s was basically showing live patients records. Yes it was epic that supplier Kind of scary
I've dealt with many patients that I know, and I also process patients' bloods. I've seen loads of people that I know, what they're getting done, and what is happening. I wouldn't dream of asking them in person. It's their private life. If they choose to tell people, that is up to them. As another person said, thank you for being that person who keeps information to themselves and taking this seriously. I would inform HR. Keep the records of data breach, and if it's in text form, that is something else you can share. I am massively adamant on patient confidentiality and data protection.
I feel that if a colleague was such a good friend, I'd have been able to approach the issue directly and have a conversation with them about it privately, as opposed to go straight to the manager. Maybe that's just me. I'm not being funny but given the fact that she was warned about her behaviour previously and didn't take heed of it suggests to me that she isn't serious (at all). To be honest, whatever happens next isn't your problem. She only has herself to blame at this point. The fact that she doesn't put two and two together and suspect that you reported her in the first instance suggests to me that she more than likely plays blabbermouth with other colleagues as well which is extremely worrisome.