ICO fines former Direct Assist employee for illegally obtaining NHS data

Martin Campbell, a former employee of personal injury company Direct Assist, has been prosecuted and fined for illegally obtaining NHS patient information over a four-month period.

Campbell has been ordered to pay a £1,050 fine, £1,160 towards prosecution costs, and a £15 victims' surcharge, according to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Information relating to 29 patients at Prestwich and Moorgate Primary Care walk-in centres was passed on to Campbell by his then girlfriend, Dawn Makin, who was working as a nurse at the centre.

Campbell then used this information to contact the patients and urge them to make personal injury claims.

Campbell and Makin were uncovered when Bury Primary Care Trust received complaints from the patients who had been contacted.

"People's medical information is some of their most sensitive data and they rightly expect health workers only to access it when there is a legitimate business need," said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham.

"Today's prosecution should help to serve as a deterrent to those who attempt to illegally obtain and pass on people's information," he added.

"The ICO will always pursue prosecutions where individuals breach both their duty of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act."