Southport and Nottingham attack families demand NHS data breach reforms

Families affected by the Southport and Nottingham attacks have joined forces to demand a meeting with the government and reforms to how the NHS handles sensitive personal data, Sky News reported.

The campaign follows a Sky News and Health Service Journal investigation into NHS data breaches. Sky News health correspondent Ashish Joshi reported that the NHS looked into thousands of potential breaches over the last five years. Most staff involved received only a verbal or written warning, and few were sacked.

Joshi reported that the cases include hospital and trust staff with no role in a patient's care deliberately opening records out of morbid curiosity, or for reasons such as coercive control or domestic violence. He said the records should be accessed only for a specific medical reason.

A teenage survivor of the Southport attacks told Sky News that discovering the breaches was painful and re-traumatising. She said: "It was quite hurtful to see that the people who've helped me the most could also be the ones that hurt you a lot." She added that it "takes me straight back to like the event and when it all happened".

The open letter signed by affected families sets out three demands. It calls for anyone who has suffered a record breach to be properly recognised as a victim, because trusts rather than individuals are currently treated as the holders of the data. It wants all trusts to require staff to tick a box confirming they are responsible for a patient's care before viewing records. It also asks for independent quarterly audits with published results, to provide transparency and accountability.

Sky News said Nicola Ryan Donnelly, the solicitor representing many Southport attack survivors and author of the open letter, was due to speak later in the programme. Without audits, the broadcast said, patients may never know whether their records have been breached.