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A Dorset pharmacist who admitted to accessing the electronic medical records of a colleague and his then-partner has received a warning from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) after it found he had reflected on his actions and “fully remediated them”.

Jack Elliot Rice admitted to accessing his partner’s records without consent or clinical justification on eight dates between February 2018 and June 2020, and viewing his colleagues records “on several occasions” on May 18, 2020, while employed as a rotational pharmacist by Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

He also acknowledged that this was against the trust’s data protection and privacy policy – but denied a separate allegation that he had shared information obtained from those records with other colleagues, including claims he had divulged this person’s test results and that they had not taken their prescribed insulin. 

Following a remote videolink hearing that concluded on July 28, the GPhC’s fitness to practise committee found the evidence did not support claims he had shared information obtained from his colleague’s records.

The May 18, 2020 incident occurred after Mr Rice’s colleague – referred to as Colleague A in the FtP report – felt dizzy and unwell and was sent to the diabetes clinic before being referred to A&E and kept in overnight.

A senior pharmacy technician at the hospital claimed Mr Rice told her that Colleague A “had been a very silly boy and hadn’t had his insulin that morning, and also told us his levels,” also claiming that Mr Rice later discussed Colleague A’s “blood results, figures and ketones”. Several other colleagues reported Mr Rice as having made similar comments. 

The pharmacy technician described feeling “surprised and concerned” that Mr Rice would have access to this information.

A subsequent investigation by the hospital found that Mr Rice had accessed Colleague A’s record twice that day without his consent and without being involved in his care.

In evidence to the FtP committee, Colleague A said he returned to work on May 23 and was greeted by Mr Rice, who reportedly said words to the effect of, ‘Are you going to be a good boy and take your insulin?’

Mr Rice, an early-career pharmacist at the time, told the FtP committee had had been completing a diploma and believed he was permitted to use any hospital inpatient as a case study for his required coursework.

He said he had accessed Colleague A’s records with a view to developing a case study, but denied having discussed the colleague’s medical history with anyone. He claimed that another colleague had told him about Colleague A’s insulin levels using the phrase ‘silly boy’ and that he had repeated this. 

The FtP committee found that while the witnesses who claimed to have heard Mr Rice discuss Colleague A’s medical history and use the phrase ‘silly boy’ were credible, they all claimed this took place before 2.15pm, whereas an audit found he had accessed the record for the first time at 2.54pm. The FtP committee therefore concluded it was unlikely that any comments he may have made were the result of having gained unauthorised access to Colleague A’s records. 

A later investigation uncovered that Mr Rice had on several occasions between 2018 and 2020 viewed the records of Person B, whom he was in a relationship with during that time but from whom he had separated when the matter came to light.

Mr Rice told the hospital’s investigators his former partner had put him “under pressure” to access her records, describing the relationship as an abusive one.

Mr Rice told the FtP committee that at the time he “did not value privacy to the extent that it should have been” and that he feels sincere remorse for having accessed medical records inappropriately.

Following the events in question, he took nine months away from practice to reflect upon his actions, and since resuming work has risen from a grade 6 pharmacist to grade 8a. 

Finding that he had “fully remediated” his behaviour and shown sufficient insight, the FtP committee found that the conduct is unlikely to be repeated and issued him with a warning, which will appear on his registry entry until July 27, 2027.