Watchdog prosecutes NHS employees who accessed data on people they knew

The Information Commissioner’s Office successfully prosecuted two cases last month where former NHS employees had unlawfully accessed information on people they knew.

In the first case, Kayleigh Evans, a former administrative employee of Solent NHS Trust, was prosecuted at West Hampshire Magistrates’ Court for accessing the sensitive medical records of a former girlfriend of her partner, without the consent of the data controller.

According to the ICO, the unlawful accesses to the records were over a 10-month period.

Evans pleaded guilty to the offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act and was fined £400, ordered to pay £683.60 prosecution costs and a £40 victim surcharge.

In the second case, Beverley Wooltorton, a former administrative employee of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, was prosecuted at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court for accessing personal information without a business need to do so, a criminal offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Wooltorton pleaded guilty to accessing the medical records of people that she knew, including estranged family members.

She was fined £650 and ordered to pay a £30 victim surcharge and £638.60 prosecution costs.