TRAK

I’m really scared for my place on the coure because I made a silly mistake. I looked up my medical records as a few girls have said they done the same but now im worried i will be disciplined. Whats the chances of this happening??

Do you think the staff will know I have done this?? Or should I be honest and say to them?

Do you think the staff will know I have done this?? Or should I be honest and say to them?

Systems are monitored to make sure people aren't looking at inappropriate records. How this works really depends on the system the hospital uses and how vigilant the IT staff are.

Realistically, you can either say nothing and hope it isn't noticed, or own up and go through the disciplinary procedure. If it is discovered at some point, you will be in more trouble for not owning up as soon as you realised you had made a mistake.

The IT policy and information governance policy for the trust would be a good place to look regarding potential outcomes.

Personally do you think I should own up?

It's not my call to make.

You need to decide for yourself whether you would be happy to take the risk of not saying anything, or whether you would feel obliged to tell them. Either way, you face some potentially very serious consequences so you need to have a good think about what you want to do.

When i looked at them, it was for the purpose of seeing the layout of the records and I wanted to familiarise myself with it. I didn’t know it wasnt allowed

It's not my call to make.

You need to decide for yourself whether you would be happy to take the risk of not saying anything, or whether you would feel obliged to tell them. Either way, you face some potentially very serious consequences so you need to have a good think about what you want to do.

When i looked at them, it was for the purpose of seeing the layout of the records and I wanted to familiarise myself with it. I didn’t know it wasnt allowed

Honestly, I think it's very unlikely that anyone is going to believe that, even if it is the truth. You will have had information governance and confidentiality training prior to going on placement so there isn't really an acceptable excuse.

My sister is an NHS nurse and has told me about this. It's correct that every record is tagged with the names of people who have accessed it, with the date and time. However nobody actively sits and monitors the system and looks at who accessed what. If they don't have any reason to look at your record (they wouldn't, why would they?), nobody is ever going to look at your record to see when it was accessed, therefore you get away with it. In practice people look things up all the time, whenever my sister has a GP appointment they always say something like, "I'm sure you'll find out your results before we tell you anyway".

Do you think I’ll be ok?

My sister is an NHS nurse and has told me about this. It's correct that every record is tagged with the names of people who have accessed it, with the date and time. However nobody actively sits and monitors the system and looks at who accessed what. If they don't have any reason to look at your record (they wouldn't, why would they?), nobody is ever going to look at your record to see when it was accessed, therefore you get away with it. In practice people look things up all the time, whenever my sister has a GP appointment they always say something like, "I'm sure you'll find out your results before we tell you anyway".

I'm not sure it's a good idea to be saying that the OP will definitely be fine. Some health boards do conduct checks (e.g. NHS Lothian, which was widely covered in the media). There is plenty of anecdotal evidence online to demonstrate that this does happen to at least some people.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to be saying that the OP will definitely be fine. Some health boards do conduct checks (e.g. NHS Lothian, which was widely covered in the media). There is plenty of anecdotal evidence online to demonstrate that this does happen to at least some people.

The two trusts I've worked at also audit the access of confidential information and have taken disciplinary action where people have inappropriately accessed records. A trust would much rather lose a nurse than face a £500k fine for breaching Caldicott.

Does anyone have any advice for me now as I’m really worried to the point I’m throwing up with nerves

The trust would not get fined as students are not employees of the trust. The person instigating the fine may try to fine the trust initially but it will fall to the university instead (who have large amounts of collective indemnity insurance for their students).



The chances are slim to none that anyone who even bothers to do an audit will audit your record when there are thousands. Even if they do, you can plead ignorance and say that you didn't know it was wrong and that you're sorry. As a student nurse or midwife you are not an employee of the hospital and their disclipinary policies and procedures do not apply to you in any way. The hospital would tell your university and you'd be dealt with under the university rules.

You are a student under the university and therefore your university's policies and procedures would apply. If in the very rare chance you get found out and this is the first thing you've ever done wrong, you won't be kicked out. The worst that will happen is the university will ask you to come in for a meeting to explain your side of the story. The worst outcome of that for a first offence is just a written warning on your file stating that if you do something else against the rules it will be taken more seriously. You're not going to lose your place on the course over this.