NHS board disciplined for wrongful access of patient records

Staff at a Scottish health board have been disciplined for inappropriately accessing patient records.

Aberdeen Royal Infermary lost the medical records of over 8,000 people after a flood destroyed them Picture: Phil Wilkinson

Seven NHS Grampian employees were disciplined over the incidents over the past two years.

However, none of the staff were reported to the police or reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.

NHS Grampian stressed that the health board does everything it can to make sure patient documents aren’t tampered with.

A spokeswoman said: “While these incidents are disappointing they must be seen in the context of the millions of occasions patient data is handled by staff every year.

“We take the issue of data protection very seriously.

“We regularly train our staff in the importance and procedures covering data protection for the people we serve and will continue regular training and raising awareness.”

All health boards are required by law to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 which gives guidance on how to store and process personal information.

The purpose of the act is to protect people’s confidentiality in relation to how data about them is handled.

Medical records of more than 8,000 patients from across the north-east of Scotland were lost in a flood last year.

Water swamped into the lower levels of the Foresterhill site, soaking 8, 100 files on patients stored in the basement.

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