Ex-healthcare worker convicted of unlawfully accessing in-laws' medical records
A former healthcare worker has been convicted of an offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act after she admitted unlawfully obtaining patient information relating to her ex-husband’s family.
Juliah Kechil, formerly known as Merritt, pleaded guilty and was fined £500. She was also ordered to pay £1,000 towards prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
She had previously worked as a healthcare assistant in the outpatients department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital (RLUH).
Kechil accessed medical records of five members of her ex-husband’s family between July and November 2009, with a view to finding out their new telephone numbers.
Her activities came to light after an investigation by the hospital, which had been contacted by Kechil’s father-in-law. He had been receiving nuisance calls, and suspected they were being made by Kechil.
The father-in-law had already changed his number in July 2009 because of unwanted calls she was making.
The hospital’s investigation revealed that none of the patients were at any time under Kechil’s care and that there were no work-related reasons for her to access the information.
An audit by RLUH linked the accessing of the information with Kechil’s smartcard ID.
Steve Eckersley, Head of Enforcement at the Information Commissioner’s Office, said: “Unlawfully obtaining other people’s information for personal gain is a serious offence which can have potentially devastating effects. Ms Kechil accessed medical records for entirely personal reasons. The breach of their privacy would obviously have been very distressing for the individuals involved.
“People should be able to feel confident that their personal details will be stored securely and only accessed when there is a legitimate business need. We will always push for the toughest penalties against individuals who abuse this trust.”
Appearing before the Justice Select Committee last September, the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, called for custodial sentences to be made available to the courts for s. 55 DPA offences. He said the existing fines were not enough to deter.
