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More access of patient records without authorisation in the NHS

There has been another prosecution over the access of patient records without authorisation in the NHS.

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined and prosecuted Michelle Harrison, formerly employed by Milton Keynes Hospital Trust, for accessing patient records without authorisation. Harrison reportedly pleaded guilty to improperly accessing the records of 12 people without any need or authorisation to do so.

This prosecution is the latest in a long line the ICO has had to enforce against NHS staff accessing medical records when they shouldn’t be.

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ICO completes follow-up assessment of Dyfed Powys Police

The ICO has completed a follow-up assessment of Dyfed Powys Police who signed an undertaking last year to improve their data protection compliance. The undertaking meant that the police force had to engage in force-wide data protection training and refresher training, as well as ensuring that training and monitoring was properly recorded to address non-compliance and ensure that security measures are in place to properly protect data.

The involvement of the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) – the UK’s data watchdog – was to ensure that Dyfed Powys Police were upholding their data protection responsibilities after a number of incidents had previously occurred.
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Kensington and Chelsea council fined £120,000 for indeliberate data breach

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council has been fined £120,000 for an indeliberate data breach because the personal details of empty property owners in their constituency was published, contrary to data protection laws.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has called it a “serious contravention” which has led to the huge fine being issued of £120,000.

According to the ICO reports, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request had been made in relation to the Grenfell Tower incident as part of research into social inequality, and it was this request that led to the accidental disclosure.
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TalkTalk accused of continuing to neglect cybersecurity

Telecoms giant TalkTalk have been accused of continuing to neglect cybersecurity after a hacker contacted Sky news and reported website security flaws that had been left unfixed for years.

The news comes as little surprise to us as we continue to represent victims for previous TalkTalk cyber-hacks that were, in our view, entirely preventable.

According to the media reports from the end of March, the hacker found a simple scripting error that allowed him to take control of a TalkTalk.co.uk URL, and use it to trick customers that they were visiting a genuine TalkTalk website.
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Humberside Police force fined £130,000 for data protection breach

Although many of us are grateful for the help and protection our police force provide us, they are not above the law; even when it comes to the Data Protection Act.

In fact, the police service is unfortunately at the centre of a large volume of data breaches, studies have confirmed.

As a victim of a police data breach you are entitled to claim for data protection compensation – just because it’s the police does not exempt them from legal action and in this case, you can see the weight of the law applied to one force in particular who were fined £130,000.00 for a huge data breach.
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Gwent Police to be investigated over “hiding” data protection breach

Worryingly, the police occupy one of the top spots in terms of organisations at the centre of data breaches, data leaks and hacks. Victims whose data is compromised in a data protection breach deserve to be notified as soon as possible, but it’s not unheard of for an organisation to “hide” a data breach as opposed to facing up to it and dealing with it.

Reportedly, Gwent Police are to be investigated for doing just that.

News sources say that Gwent Police are being investigated for failing to inform hundreds of individuals that their data protection rights had been breached.
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NHS staff accessing neighbour’s medical records is NOT okay

There is a recent worrying trend of NHS staff being caught out snooping on people they know, or are related to, by abusing their powers to access their medical records.

Let’s be absolutely clear: it is NOT okay for any member of the NHS to access their neighbour’s medical records without good reason or due authorisation.

If you are informed that a member of the NHS staff has accessed your medical records in such a way, or if you discover it has happened, you may be entitled to claim for data protection breach compensation.
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Council data protection breaches are serious and highly sensitive

Data protection breaches committed by councils / local authorities – or the companies they outsource work to – can be unfortunately common. We advise and represent a large volume of people who have been the victim of a data breach caused by their local council, so we understand how bad they can be.

The serious council data protection breaches can cause a lot of problems for the victims, and given the nature of data that local authorities often hold – these type of breaches can be very sensitive indeed.
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Ex-soldier prosecuted for posting vulnerable adult’s sensitive data on Twitter

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has released the details of a prosecution and a police undertaking after private and sensitive information was intentionally leaked on social media platform Twitter.

William Godfrey from Kent had been in a relationship with a probation officer when he came into possession of a USB data stick containing sensitive data. He later tweeted some of the sensitive data on the USB device and threatened to release more data as well.

For their part, Surrey Police signed an undertaking to improve their data protection policies and procedures.
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Council worker fined after being caught sharing personal data on Snapchat

It’s not only NHS workers who are breaching data protection rules by accessing medical records when they shouldn’t be. There’s also a worrying trend of data being breached by the rogue actions of employees, and with data being so easily shared nowadays, we remain concerned.

With a huge amount of councils lacking proper mandatory data protection training, you could argue there are potentially thousands of employees out there who don’t know any better. This is not good enough, and these prosecutions should serve as stern warnings to both employers and employees about breaching data protection rights by illegally sharing data.
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