NHS staff face prison or sacking for unlawfully accessing patient records, Mackey warns

Posed by model. Credit: Getty/Anchiy

By Daniel Pye

NHS England has told trusts to take a “tough approach” to unlawful access of patient records following recent scandals.

In a letter, Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive officer of NHS England, said recent cases of staff looking up records following high profile incidents “particularly worrying” and warned those that do so risk their own careers and face potential criminal prosecution.

A hospital has launched an investigation after dozens of staff accessed the patient record of a boy who was hurt in a crocodile pit in Cambridge.

New guidance, announced by Mackey, states that personal or professional curiosity is never a legitimate excuse for accessing a patient’s record, regardless of malicious intent.

It also cannot be accessed to respond to a complaint, unless the organisation has approved this.
Unlawful access can have a significant impact on patients by breaking their trust, which means they might hold back information, the guidance states.