ICO: Former Royal Liverpool employee unlawfully accessed medical records

Juliah Kechil, formerly known as Merritt, a former health care assistant in the outpatients department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, accessed the medical records of five members of her ex-husband’s family in order to obtain their new telephone numbers.

She was convicted under section 55 of the Data Protection Act at Liverpool City Magistrates Court today, the ICO reported.

“Ms Kechil accessed the medical records of the five individuals between July and November 2009”, the statement continued. “Royal Liverpool University Hospital began an investigation in November 2009 when the defendant’s father-in-law contacted the hospital after receiving nuisance calls which he suspected had been made by his former daughter-in-law. Having changed his phone number in July 2009 following unwanted calls from Ms Kechil, he was immediately concerned that there had been a breach of patient confidentially.  

“Checks by the hospital revealed that all of the patients whose details had been compromised were not at any time under the medical care of Ms Kechil and she had no work-related reasons to access their records. She accessed the information for her own personal gain without the consent of her employer. The accesses were traced through audit trails which were linked to the defendant’s smartcard ID.”