Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has branded NHS staff accessing the medical records of crime victims a “disgrace” after Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust sacked a further 15 employees for breaching patient data, bringing the total of dismissals linked to the Nottingham attacks to 26. The latest sackings were confirmed on Saturday, alongside revelations that records of a man killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park may also have been accessed improperly.
The scale of the breaches
The 15 staff members dismissed on Saturday were found to have inappropriately accessed the medical records of Nottingham attack victims and other patients, according to the trust. Dr Manjeet Shehmar, NUH medical director, said there was “simply no excuse for accessing the records of a patient without a legitimate reason.” The trust said it had informed the Information Commissioner’s Office and Nottinghamshire Police of the investigation, along with relevant professional regulators including the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Medical Council.
The dismissals follow an earlier round in May, when 11 staff members were sacked. The breaches extend beyond the Nottingham attacks — Yorkshire Ambulance Service has also confirmed that the medical records of William Chapman, a 24-year-old killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, may have been accessed illegitimately. Students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and grandfather Ian Coates were stabbed to death on 13 June 2023 by Valdo Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020.
Why this matters
The breaches strike at the core promise the NHS makes to every patient: that personal medical information will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. When staff access records without clinical justification — whether out of curiosity, voyeurism, or gossip — it erodes public trust in the health service at a time when the NHS is already under intense pressure. For families grieving the loss of loved ones, the added trauma of knowing their private medical details were viewed by strangers compounds an already devastating loss.
Government response
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Cooper said she expected swift action against any NHS worker found to have breached data and privacy standards. “Let me be really clear about this,” she said. “There are proper data and privacy standards across the NHS. There’s got to be proper respect for patients.” She added that where breaches occur, staff should be suspended while investigations take place rather than allowed to continue in post.
What happens next
NUH said a new system, currently under testing, is being implemented to protect patient records in future and alert the trust to potential breaches. The Information Commissioner’s Office is expected to assess any evidence provided and consider its next steps. For the grieving families, the priority is accountability — and a guarantee that such breaches will not happen again.
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