Cornwall woman says hospital worker who accessed her records told her she had cancer
A woman from Lostwithiel in Cornwall says she was told she had cancer by a Royal Cornwall Hospital employee she knew only slightly, before her own doctor had confirmed the diagnosis. The woman, Pippa Boardman, says the employee had looked at her medical records days before a results appointment with her consultant, a senior hospital doctor.
According to Boardman, the employee telephoned her at home and said "you've got cancer." Her consultant confirmed two days later that she had breast cancer. She is recovering well.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital in Truro, said the employee had legitimate access to Boardman's records for work. It said that contacting her and discussing her diagnosis was outside the employee's role. The trust said it investigated immediately after Boardman raised her concern and took appropriate action, but it would not disclose details of individual employment matters.
Boardman said the trust apologised to her only after it was contacted by BBC reporters. BBC News reported that she said she had lost her dignity and privacy through the incident. She told the BBC that the sharing of her information was invasive and intrusive, and said the trust's handling of the case had reinforced her trauma.
The trust said it has reminded all staff that records may be accessed only for a legitimate, work-related reason. It said it is reviewing its policies in light of strengthened guidance from NHS England, the national body for the health service in England, on inappropriate access to patient information.
The trust's published data protection policy says access to patient information is strictly role-based. Under that policy, only authorised staff may view identifiable information, and only where it is needed for direct care or operational purposes.
