Hospital man charged with breach of data protection

A 21-YEAR-OLD man who allegedly used information about a female hospital patient in Edinburgh to contact her on Facebook has been charged with a breach of data protection.

The alleged incident, revealed by The Scotsman, is said to have occurred on 16 November at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

NHS Lothian has already said the man had not breached the hospital’s computer systems.

Jackie Sansbury, chief operating officer at NHS Lothian, said last week: “A full review of our confidential patient record and monitoring system has now been carried out and shows that our systems were not breached by this individual.

“Therefore he had no access to private medical records and information which is protected by a range of complex security systems.”

She added: “We understand that this member of contracted staff only gained the patient’s name from an electronic screen for staff showing a floor plan in the treatment area of the accident and emergency department.”

The man is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.