Report: Royal Cornwall worker accessed patient records and told woman she had cancer

Boardman said she knew the man only vaguely through the sport she plays. She told the BBC: “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, her consultant told her she did have breast cancer.

Boardman, who said she is recovering well from the cancer, said Royal Cornwall’s handling of the case had reinforced her trauma. She said the trust only apologized after it had been contacted by reporters at the BBC. She told the BBC: “It really distresses me people can’t see just how invasive and intrusive it is if somebody looks at your information and then shares it inappropriately.”

The Royal Cornwall hospital trust told the BBC it was “truly sorry” about what had happened to Boardman. “Whilst the member of staff had legitimate access to her records as part of their work, it was outside of their role to contact her,” the trust said. “This should not have happened and we recognize the distress and concern it will have caused. Appropriate action was taken following our investigation, which was carried out immediately after Ms Boardman raised her concern.”

The Guardian contacted the trust. Its statement said the staff member had legitimate access to the records but that contacting Boardman was outside their role, a distinction that bears on how the hospital describes the access at the center of the case.