A clinical staff member at a GP surgery in Worcester has been fired after using patient data to manipulate their appointment book.
Severn Valley Medical Practice, which runs the Henwick Halt Medical Centre and the Lyppard Grange Medical Centre, wrote to its patients to inform them of the ‘inappropriate activity’ and of the data breach.
The member of the clinical team had accessed the data of some of the patients in order to manipulate their appointment book and fill their workload with unused slots.
The practice told Pulse that after the incident was discovered, the staff member faced disciplinary action and was dismissed by the practice.
The surgery’s letter to its patients said: ’We want to sincerely apologise for this incident, and any stress that this may cause.
‘On October 26 2023, we learned that a member of our clinical team had accessed the data of some of our patients in order to manipulate their appointment book and fill their workload with unused slots.
‘While we immediately suspended this individual when learning of this deeply inappropriate activity, and have reported them to their professional standards body, unfortunately your medical records were one of those accessed to fill one of those slots.
‘We want to assure you that there have been no amends to your records made, except for the booking of an appointment which you did not use.
‘Your data was not shared with any other organisations or individuals outside of the practice.’
In a joint statement, senior partner Dr Lindsay Pickerell and practice manager Sarah Payne said: ‘First and foremost, we want to apologise to all patients impacted by this situation, and any stress caused as a result.
‘As soon as we learned of this issue, we took significant steps, including suspending the staff member, who, following an appropriate investigation, was dismissed.
‘We notified their professional body and the Information Commissioner’s Office, and raising it with our local Integrated Care Board and Primary Care Network, to ensure this was fully investigated and all patient data remained secure.
‘We have also raised this as a significant incident within our practice to ensure learnings are taken forward to ensure this does not happen again.
‘We want to apologise again for any stress this has caused to patients, and to assure them that their data has at no point left our practice. Patients affected are welcome to get in touch with us if they have any concerns, and we will be happy to help resolve any questions or queries they may have.’
Earlier this year, two GPs were suspended for 12 months in May after an MPTS tribunal found that their falsification of QOF records amounted to serious misconduct.
And a Christian GP based in Kent was given a new formal warning by the GMC’s independent fitness-to-practise tribunal in relation to praying in a consultation.
In October, an MPTS tribunal took into account stress and workload as mitigating factors in the decision to suspend a GP who consumed alcohol at work.
I have to laugh, don’t you?———–I once knew a G.P. who added T.V. and film stars to his appointment book to give the impression he was fully booked
Happens on much bigger scale in the secondary care- the “virtual follow up” clinics for example
Lazy or burnt out and just hanging on?
If the patients were booked to fill up the slots and they were unaware of that, why did the practice apologise for stress caused? Sending such a letter would have caused more stress. Dismissing the employee would have been sufficient using common sense. I suspect that they took advice from the defence union who, as usual, advise to escalate the situation unnecessarily.
One of my colleagues -long since retired–used to add a couple of dummy patients to the surgery list.
This was discovered when one of the pretend patients phoned up trying to book an appointment. The patient was surprised and impressed to be told that they already had an appointment that morning!
We challenged the clinician involved-who quickly confessed. We all thought it was most amusing and our colleague was ridiculed for a few weeks as punishment.
I guess we would have to involve the GMC and self-flagellate these days.
Wow..sounds like someone might have died
Oh ‘eck. One of the first things we do with new Receptionists is to teac them to ‘manipulate the appointment book’ and ‘fill surgeries with empty slots’ !
I know the best way to keep record of which patients you called with results or to request they come in or change meds, in one clinical system, was to make them a ‘squeezed-in appointment while you were talking to them – or to remind yourself to do it later, put one on the end of the afternoon. I suppose such personal reminders would be frowned upon now too, but clearly what was going on here was something different (apparently).
I think they may be interested in checking every PCN clinic across the country as in my view this this would keep them busy apologising for the rest of their careers!
I fill my slots with weekly blood pressure reviews. A retired senior partner showed me this.
Top tip for those seeking to fill their slots: diagnose PMR whenever you can. Then you can book fortnightly check-ins for symptom review +- CRP, dose adjustment… very handy condition, PMR. I seem to see a lot of it for some reason.
Last 2 posts, hahahaha hahaha, niiice. Merry Christmas
I bet this surgery has a toxic culture. Poor chap, instead of getting sympathy they get the sack. It would be interesting if a suicide ensued!
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