Health chiefs in Fife have admitted a woman posing as a nurse helped give care to a patient at a St Andrews hospital.
She was able to gain access to a ward at St Andrews Community Hospital in February.
The woman gave care to the patient before being handed a document containing 14 people’s personal details, which they stole.
The data has never been recovered and the identity of the bogus nurse is not known because CCTV was not switched on properly.
A report from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) rapped NHS Fife after finding the person did not undergo an identity check.
It concluded that NHS Fife did not have “appropriate security measures” in place for personal information.
Initially, the location of the incident had been redacted, but NHS Fife has now confirmed it happened at the St Andrews facility.
Bogus nurse left St Andrews hospital ward ‘after being challenged by member of staff’
An NHS Fife spokesperson said: “Earlier this year an individual purporting to be a member of agency nursing staff attended St Andrews Community Hospital.
“The individual was only on a ward for a short period of time and left shortly after being challenged by a member of the nursing team.
“While the person was never alone with any patient, they did have access to a handover document containing information relating to patients on the ward.
“NHS Fife and Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, who operate the facility, immediately reported the incident to Police Scotland and also referred the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
NHS Fife apologises over bogus nurse incident
“The patients involved and their families were informed of this breach of security.
“We acknowledge the findings of the Information Commissioner’s Office, and have apologised to those involved.
“A range of additional measures were put in place shortly after the incident to prevent such a matter from occurring again in future.”
As part of its reprimand, the ICO has made several recommendations to NHS Fife to improve its data protection compliance.
The spokesperson added: “We have since carried out a significant adverse event review and a working group has been established to implement the recommendations of both the information commissioner and the findings of our own review across the entirety of NHS Fife.”
The health board has not confirmed the nature of the care that was being offered to the patient.
St Andrews Community Hospital has services including a minor injuries unit, an x-rays department, an endoscopy unit, a renal outpatients unit and a base for the north-east Fife community midwives.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 3.40pm on Wednesday, 1 February, 2023, we received a report of a woman posing as a member of staff at St Andrews Community Hospital, St Andrews.
“Inquiries have been carried out and nobody has been arrested.”
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