The father of a 13-year-old girl stabbed in the Southport attack has accused ambulance staff of a “complete breach of trust” after it emerged they may have inappropriately accessed her medical records while she was fighting for her life.
The girl – identified only as Child 6 – was one of 10 children physically injured in the July 2024 attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Hart Street. Three young girls – Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven – were murdered. The attacker, Axel Rudakubana, stabbed the 13-year-old in the back and arm.
“Father of Southport attack victim says ambulance staff inappropriately accessed her medical records, calling it a 'complete breach of trust'.”
Her father, who cannot be named due to an anonymity order, said the possible breach by North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) was “appalling”. He claimed some staff “just wanted to satisfy their own morbid curiosity”.
The revelation came as the family were reviewing documents given to them by University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHLG) about a separate breach at Aintree Hospital, where nearly 50 staff had looked at records of injured victims without good reason. In those documents, they saw a statement that “under 10 individuals” within NWAS “may have inappropriately accessed the incident”. The document added that NWAS are “not formally disciplining” staff but have “strengthened their HR process for future incidents”.
“It was already incredibly difficult to think that NHS staff at Aintree Hospital had needlessly pried into our daughter’s condition,” the father said. “But to then learn that ambulance staff did the same within the first 24 hours, when our daughter was at her most critical state, is appalling.”
NWAS chief executive Salman Desai confirmed the service was investigating after it “identified concerns about potential inappropriate access to patient records”.
The father said the NHS trusts were “still unable to tell us with certainty whether photographs of our daughter’s injuries were viewed by staff, so we don’t know what to believe”. He added: “The decision to share what happened to her should have been our daughter’s to make, now nobody can guarantee what data was shared and retained. They’ve had multiple chances to tell us about this but instead we have been left to discover this when we should be two years into our healing journey.”
Fletchers Solicitors, which represents 22 of the 23 girls who survived the attack, is already investigating the Aintree breach. Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, associate solicitor at the firm, said: “The recent string of patient data breaches has shown there is a deep-rooted culture of snooping within the NHS.”
The father and solicitors are now calling for a full-scale review by NHS England into guidance and disciplinary procedures for staff who inappropriately access patient data.
