An expectant mum said she felt 'completely violated' after her ex-boyfriend, a doctor in Nottingham, accessed her medical files. Tanya Sunrise, of Ilkeston, who is 28 weeks pregnant, had her records accessed by Dr Ghassan Almeer earlier this year, months after splitting up with him.
Dr Almeer, a senior consultant radiologist who works at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), was found to have viewed the 37-year-old private sector nurse's records in January. In a letter addressed to Ms Sunrise, NUH said Dr Almeer had viewed an ultrasound scan as well as her medical 'homepage' and a test result on January 13. He viewed the scan once again on January 17.
Ms Sunrise told Nottinghamshire Live she was "shocked" when she was first made aware. "I was really shocked," she said. "I felt completely violated. The system has got my complete medical history throughout my whole life. It’s my private confidential information."
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NUH, which runs Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, said it investigated the breach "as soon as we were made aware" and suspended Dr Almeer whilst it carried out an investigation. He later returned to work. NUH said they couldn't confirm how long Dr Almeer had been suspected for due confidentiality reasons.
“I’m absolutely disgusted at the way they have handled it," said Ms Sunrise, who has moved her care to a different hospital, describing the move as a "kick in the teeth". “I don’t feel safe with him having access," she said.
"He's back at work with no punishment, it's such a serious breach. He's still got access to all my records and can log on to them when he wants to and look at them. I don't think it's good enough."
Her sister, Tara McRoberts, said that Ms Sunrise had "strongly believed" NUH "would do everything necessary and within their power to safeguard her and the baby", adding: "Unfortunately that was not the case and, as a result, she has had to move to an unfamiliar hospital further away."
In a statement, Dr Keith Girling, medical director at NUH, apologised to Ms Sunrise but maintained the NHS trust had taken action in line with its policies. “Accessing a patient’s medical records without clinical justification is completely unacceptable, and is a violation of basic privacy rights as well as patient confidentiality," he said.
"We investigated this incident as soon as we were made aware, took action in line with our policies, and reported the breach to the Information Commissioner. We recognise how upsetting this is and have apologised unreservedly to Ms Sunrise that this has happened.”
An ICO spokesperson said: “Nottingham University Hospitals has made us aware of an incident and we are assessing the information provided.” A spokesperson for the General Medical Council said "We are not able to give details about complaints or investigations, and can only confirm the publicly available information about a doctor as it appears on the medical register."
Dr Almeer was approached for comment.
