A woman was told she had cancer by a hospital employee who accessed her record days before she was due to receive test results from her consultant.
Pippa Boardman, from Lostwithiel in Cornwall, said she had lost her dignity and privacy through the data breach at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. She said she did not receive an apology from the hospital until it was contacted by the BBC.
The trust said it was “truly sorry” and “appropriate action had been taken”.
It added: “While we cannot disclose the details of individual employment matters, we want to reassure Ms Boardman that we have treated this extremely seriously.”
Boardman, who is now recovering well from cancer, said her personal information was accessed by a man she vaguely knew who worked at the hospital.
She said: “I got a phone call at home from somebody I know through the sport that I play.
“This man said to me ‘Pippa, I don’t want you to worry, but you’ve got cancer’.
“I just couldn’t really believe it”.
Two days later Boardman was told by her consultant she did have breast cancer.
Nine months on, she said her strong recovery did not undo the damage done by the experience, adding: “I lost my dignity and I’ve lost my privacy.”
Along with Boardman’s case there have also been other recent NHS data breaches, described by Health Secretary Yvette Cooper as a disgrace.