Britain’s health minister says she’s asked police to investigate claims that staff at the hospital where Kate, Princess of Wales, had surgery in January, attempted to access her private medical records.
The UK’s data-protection agency — the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) — will also probe the allegations about The London Clinic, a private Marylebone facility with a long history of treating the royals.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield told Sky News that London’s Metropolitan Police had been asked to look at the claims, which first appeared in British press late on Tuesday.
She told Sky News in the UK that it was “pretty severe and serious stuff to be accessing notes that you don’t have permission to”.
She said it would be “very disappointing” if the claims were true, and “there are very strict rules about which patient notes you can access”.
Although, a police spokesperson said the organization was unaware of the directive.
Kensington Palace said: “This is a matter for The London Clinic.”
In a statement, the hospital said its staff were aware of their “individual, professional, ethical and legal duties” and that it had systems to “monitor management of patient information”.
“There is no place at our hospital for those who intentionally breach the trust of any of our patients or colleagues,” it said.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the ICO confirmed the body had “received a breach report and are assessing the information provided”.
Hospitals ‘obliged to self-report’ data breaches
The princess had abdominal surgery in January and spent about a overnight stay in the hospital.
Few details have been released about her subsequent recovery, and she is expected to return to royal duties next month.
A photo, released by Kensington Palace to mark Mother’s Day, fueled conspiracy theories online when several major news agencies said they were not running it because it had been manipulated.
Earlier this week, pictures surfaced of the princess and her husband, William, who is heir to the British throne, shopping near their Windsor home. It was the first time she’d been filmed walking since the surgery.
The London Clinic also treated King Charles III for an enlarged prostate, and cancer, this year.
Other high-profile patients include the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, who was admitted for “abdominal investigations” in 2013.
The late Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, had a benign skin lesion removed there in 1980.
US president John F Kennedy and Hollywood actress Liz Taylor were also among the A-listers to receive treatment at the London Clinic, while former British prime minister (and current Foreign Secretary) David Cameron was born there in 1966.
Hospitals ‘obliged to self report’ private data breaches
Iain Wilson, a London solicitor who specializes in medical privacy, told the ABC that organizations like hospitals are “obliged to self-report” if they believe private data has been breached.
“Most organizations that are handling sensitive data have systems on their databases where logins are recorded,” he said.
“So if someone logs into a database based on access records, then there’ll be a note, and a log somewhere to show which username accessed the records at any particular time.”
Mr Wilson said people convicted of an offense under the UK’s Computer Misuse Act could face two years behind bars.
He also said the ICO could also impose its own penalties, including fines of up to £17.5 million ($38 million), or 4 per cent of an organisation’s global turnover.
The royals have previously had their health information breached.
In 2012, two Australian radio DJs from 2Day FM prank-called the King Edward VII’s Hospital, which was treating the then-pregnant Catherine, pretending to be Queen Elizabeth and Charles.
A senior nurse who was on duty answered the phone before transferring the call to a colleague, who divulged details of the royal’s bout of acute morning sickness to the radio host.
The royal family did not make an official complaint over the privacy breach, but the hospital’s chair Lord Simon Glenarthur condemned the prank.
The nurse who answered the call died by committing suicide a couple of days after the conversation went to air, and at the inquest into the nurse’s death, Coroner Fiona Wilcox said the hoax was “clearly pressing on her mind” when she died.
The broadcaster said it accepted full responsibility for the making of the telephone call and its broadcast.