Unauthorised access to patient records: know your rights!

If you’ve been the victim of unauthorised access to your patient records, it’s important to know that you may be eligible to make a claim for medical data breach compensation.

We’ve discussed these kinds of NHS data breach claims many times before as it’s a common scenario for legal cases that we take forward. Issues like this have also been prevalent in the media following the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) having to prosecute several employees guilty of breaking the law. They even had to issue a  general warning to staff as a reminder to not abuse their rights to access medical data.

This issue is back in the media again following the huge Greater Manchester patients medical records access scandal, which is something we’ve taking a number of cases forward for.

Can you claim for unauthorised access to patient records?

You can be eligible to make an NHS data breach compensation claim as a victim of unauthorised access to your patient records.

Your private and sensitive medical records should only be accessed by staff when there’s a genuine need to do so, and where the employee has the appropriate reasons and authority for doing so. Staff simply cannot be randomly accessing records without any reason for doing so. This is a breach of your rights to privacy, and it can amount to a breach of the law.

Medical records data breach compensation claims often reflect the severity of any distress caused when such private and personal information is misused or exposed.

Common examples of when you can claim

One of the most common incidents of unauthorised access to patient records involves NHS employees snooping on the medical notes for people they know.

Friends, family, partners, former partners; anyone can be at risk. It’s often a case of an employee going above and beyond their authority in the name of being curious about the medical histories of people they know, or for gaining knowledge for malicious purposes.

This is absolutely not OK at all. There’s simply no excuse for this kind of behaviour, and it’s right that the ICO has the power to prosecute NHS staff who are guilty of abusing their access rights to information.

Data breach compensation pay-outs in cases like this can be quite high when switch private and sensitive data is misused. As lawyers, we can help victims to access the justice that they deserve.

WWL NHS Trust unauthorised access to patient records event

The recent Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust scandal involving unauthorised access to patient records for some 2,000 people is a worrying one.

Not long after letters had been issued to victims, we launched No Win, No Fee claims for compensation having been asked to help.

As more and more people become aware of their rights, we’ve now received a number of enquires and taken several cases forward. Victims of this scandal can be entitled to make claim for compensation, and we can advise you of your rights on a free, no-obligation basis.

Please don’t hesitate to speak to the team for more information about where you stand.

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