More NHS staff sacked over attacks victims' records

Further members of staff have been sacked by an NHS trust for inappropriately accessing medical records of the Nottingham attacks victims.

Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and grandfather Ian Coates, were stabbed to death on 13 June 2023 by Valdo Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020.

In May, Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust confirmed it had dismissed 11 members of staff and, in an update on Friday, said a total of 15 people had now been sacked as part of its investigation.

The families of Barnaby, Grace and Ian previously welcomed the action taken by the trust but called the development in May a "kick in the teeth".

Dr Manjeet Shehmar, medical director at NUH, said: "There is simply no excuse for accessing the records of a patient without a legitimate reason and I hope this sends a really clear message – we will investigate and we will take action.

"To lose a loved one in the way that the families of Ian, Grace and Barnaby have is heartbreaking enough.

"I am so sorry that they have had this further compounded by the actions of these staff members."

As well as the dismissals, NUH said 15 final written warnings and two first written warnings have also been issued in total.

Two cases were found to have no case to answer and no action was taken.

The trust said action had been taken against "doctors, nurses, registered healthcare professionals and other staff" and that independent regulators such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council and General Medical Council, the Information Commissioner's Office, and Nottinghamshire Police had been informed.

A new system, currently under testing, is being implemented to protect patient records in future and alert the trust of potential breaches.

A Your Responsibility, Your Actions, Their Privacy campaign has also been carried out to educate staff about data protection and the "serious consequences" of not following the rules, it added.

Shehmar said: "We will continue to investigate inappropriate access to these records and take action as and where necessary.

"Alongside this, we are doing all we can to educate our staff on appropriate access and how to keep the records of our patients safe. We are also introducing a new system which acts to detect possible data breaches.

"While the actions of these staff members are disappointing, we know that this represents a small number of our wider workforce.

"We know staff across the trust are listening, learning and doing what they can to ensure that only lawful and justified access takes place in our hospitals."

NUH said investigations were continuing, including into inappropriate access of the files of the surviving victims of the attacks - Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski.

NUH is among a number of organisations in which staff inappropriately viewed records or information related to the fatal attacks.

In December 2024, an investigation opened into allegations Ministry of Justice (MoJ) staff illegally accessed computer files related to the Nottingham attacks.

The public inquiry has since heard court workers also inappropriately accessed information about the case in January 2024.

Amy Holmes, the interim director general for the chief operating group of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), told the inquiry she could not detail what information was accessed due to the ongoing police investigation.

The inquiry also heard seven probation service officers were identified as having accessed the information.

HM Prison and Probation Service found four of those officers accessed files legitimately, but three did not have a legitimate reason to do so.

However, it was deemed by the probation service and the Ministry of Justice's data protection unit that the breaches were not serious enough to warrant further action.

Footage and images related to the attacks were also viewed numerous times by Nottinghamshire Police staff without a legitimate policing purpose.

The force confirmed it would carry out an audit of how many times the information was viewed and whether it was appropriate, following a complaint by Barnaby's mother, Emma Webber, in March.