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Attack victims' families urge NHS to stop unauthorized record access
The BBC reported Thursday that families affected by the Southport and Nottingham attacks, in an open letter, called unauthorized NHS access to patient records an abuse of power and asked for stronger safeguards.
- New headline Was: “Southport and Nottingham attack victims demand end to data breaches”
- Our desk filed its story
Families affected by the Southport and Nottingham attacks have called for stronger safeguards against National Health Service staff accessing confidential patient records without a care role, the BBC reported Thursday1.
In an open letter signed by more than 30 people, including people affected by maternity scandals, they described the breaches as a "flagrant abuse of power" and urged ministers and NHS leaders to do more1. The BBC said it had contacted NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Culture for comment1.
Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, were stabbed to death in Nottingham in 2023 by Valdo Calocane1. The letter said staff began looking at records while parents were still coming to terms with the deaths and other victims were still in hospital1.
The BBC said NHS workers also accessed records of victims of the 2024 Southport attack, in which Axel Rudakubana killed Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 91. The letter said strangers with no role in their care probed sensitive information1.
Liverpool Heart and Chest NHS Foundation Trust is investigating allegations that staff inappropriately accessed Southport victims' records1. In May, the University Hospitals of Liverpool Group said nearly 50 of its staff had wrongly looked at victims' files, and a separate inquiry is under way at North West Ambulance Service Trust, the BBC reported1.
The letter also cited unauthorized access after other high-profile deaths of children, and said the Ministry of Justice and HM Courts and Tribunals Service had apologized for inappropriate access to Southport victims' information1.
In September, NHS officials announced that staff suspected of snooping would be suspended immediately and lose computer access1. The letter said those steps do not go far enough and asked for a tick-box confirming a legitimate reason to open a record, audits of snooping, and that patients be properly recognized by the Information Commissioner1.
Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, a partner at Fletchers Solicitors, which wrote the letter, said victims of NHS snooping had had enough and that stronger sanctions were a start but did not fix the problem1.
Not medical advice.