Clare Lawson
A former nurse at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust has been prosecuted for accessing patients’ medical records without authorisation.
Clare Lawson who had been a staff nurse on the hospital’s Rehabilitation Ward since October 2011 had accessed patients’ medical records outside of her role.
Ms Lawson had inappropriately accessed the records – including maternity and paediatric records – of five patients, 17 times.
It was also heard that Ms Lawson made multiple accesses to the records of some of these individuals including the blood results of a friend 44 times after they had been discharged, as well as foetal scans.
Ms Lawson, of Southport appeared before magistrates in Bootle on 24 September and admitted unlawfully obtaining and disclosing personal data, in breach of s55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. She was fined £400 and was also ordered to pay costs of £364.08 and a victim surcharge of £40.