facing dismissal for misconduct

kencolady

I am looking for some advice on whether anyone has had experience of facing disciplinary and dismissal for Misconduct/Gross misconduct while Ill.
In Short I work for the NHS and I accessed files that I should not have accessed. This was very out of character for me and I did not know I had accessed the incorrect file database until the Audit identified it and I was informed of the Investigation against me in October. Leading up to this however I had been ill and had been suffering severe migraines and sickness, I was extremely tired every day, and snappy with family and friends, I would argue black was white, would behave very oddly , even put sugar in the washing machine, was turning upto patients on the wrong days etc, I then suffered a seizure and left sided weakness on my face and arm/leg.I had time off work to get better and during this time had an MRI which showed a tumour on the brain. The neurologist explained my behaviour was due to this and went onto explain the tumour had affected my personality, gross motor skills, morality, reasoning judgement and more. I have a copy of the letter the neurologist wrote to my GP stating all this and also a booklet they gave me with the location of my particular tumour, again stating the symptoms it causes.
My question is will they take all this into consideration in my disciplinary hearing as the fact finding has been completed and they have gone to the disciplinary stage. I have worked for 5 years with a good clean record, an looking back at how family and friends describe how I was behaving then is an embarrassment for me,and i am trying hard to show them this is not how I would normally behave, but I not holding out much hope, as the letter states for possible dismissal? Any advice would be appreciated.

Please no negative comments,I know now what mistakes I have made and already feel bad enough.

the files accessed where actually to update information for a patient, I updated the information into the wrong system, but by doing this into the wrong system it gives you access to other information,although I did not access other information Ijust added notes ,I cant prove this and its considered a breach in policy.

sangie595

So you just have to tell them all this and provide your evidence. If you are in the union, get their support.

It really is that easy. There is nothing to discuss about the offence. You did it. They know that and you know that. So it is now down to whether they accept your explanation. If you have the evidence, I'd imagine they are likely to go easy, but nobody here can promise that.

kencolady

I have written in my response all of this, in the fact finding inquiry, however the response was they were taking it to disciplinary, but before they do this they have asked occupational health to have a meeting with me, to see if the tumour affected my judgement, so I was going to give occupational health a copy of my neurologist letter and mri scan results,to show that it confirms the affects it had on my behaviour etc at that time. And also take it all with me to the hearing.

Am I right though in thinking if they have asked occupational health to talk to me first that they may be finding out first if it affected me,in which case they could still opt for a written warning instead of the dismissal hearing,?

Silvester89

I'd just he as honest and open as you can be. Take all the evidence you can relating to your medical condition. Talk then through how it effected you at the time. I do a lot of investigation and disciplinary meetings and the one thing that makes me life easier is when people are honest and provide documents to back up their side of events. If you make the disciplinary chairs life easier, hopefully they will appreciate that and be reasonable with you in their outcome.

Sarastro

They may opt for a written warning, but it's not guaranteed. I agree with Silverster89, provide as much evidence as you can about your condition and how it affected you.

TELLIT01

I'm guessing that you entered an incorrect National Insurance or Medical number and didn't realise the mistake at the time as you were unaware of the situation until it was picked up by audit.
It's a mistake that can happen easily enough, and when under pressure it isn't always obvious that you've done it. Yes it falls within the category of misconduct because you accessed records you had no right to. Hopefully it will be accepted that it was a genuine mistake and will result in nothing more than a warning either verbal or written.

ohreally

kencolady wrote: »

I have written in my response all of this, in the fact finding inquiry, however the response was they were taking it to disciplinary

Have you spoken with a steward about this development? I would have expectations of the investigation drawing a line, is there more to it perhaps?

Fireflyaway

There is a big difference between making an honest mistake and doing something forbidden for personal gain / to be malicious. If you explain as you have here and provide the medical evidence I'd hope they would consider this as a blip that's out of character. I would also give them reassurance that's backed up with evidence ( you have sought treatment / are on medication / whatever is relevant ) that its not likely to happen again.

Manxman_in_exile

I agree with the other posters - best advice is to be honest and open about your condition. Bring you neurologists report to your OH meeting and also to the disciplinary. Sorry, if I've missed this, but if you are in a union make sure you are represented.


Also, this may seem a negative point but it isn't intended to be, and perhaps may even be helpful to you(?). You seem to be saying that owing to an error on your part you inadvertently and unknowingly accessed a data system that you should not have had access to. Having worked in the NHS for 25 years I'm both surprised and concerned that your trust is running systems that allow such a breach of security by accident.


Whether you or your union rep can make something of that to help you, I don't know, I'm not qualified to say, but more knowledgeable posters on here may be able to say whether or not it may help.


(PS - To clarify: there was another thread where it was argued that the OP had to intentionally do something they knew was misconduct, but sangie, rightly I think, said the act itself was intentional and it was irrelevant whether the OP knew it was misconduct or not. Your difference, I would suggest, is that your act of misconduct was unintentional and inadvertent, and that you were not even aware of doing it until flagged up by a subsequent audit. Plus your neurological condition contributed to the original unwitting error. Whether there's any mileage in that, I simply don't know. Other posters will have a view, don't just rely on my personal view. Discuss with your union).

TELLIT01

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

Also, this may seem a negative point but it isn't intended to be, and perhaps may even be helpful to you(?). You seem to be saying that owing to an error on your part you inadvertently and unknowingly accessed a data system that you should not have had access to. Having worked in the NHS for 25 years I'm both surprised and concerned that your trust is running systems that allow such a breach of security by accident.

My experience is from DWP rather than NHS but it is comparatively easy to either transpose a couple of characters or have finger trouble and hit a completely wrong letter or digit. In most cases you would realise as soon as you looked at the name that you were in the wrong record, but illness could affect concentration levels and mean you just skip on through to the section(s) you intend to access. If you're doing a lot of this kind of work i.e. updating records you can slip into autopilot on occasion. It shouldn't happen, but we are people and not machines.

Manxman_in_exile

TELLIT01 wrote: »

My experience is from DWP rather than NHS but it is comparatively easy to either transpose a couple of characters or have finger trouble and hit a completely wrong letter or digit. In most cases you would realise as soon as you looked at the name that you were in the wrong record, but illness could affect concentration levels and mean you just skip on through to the section(s) you intend to access. If you're doing a lot of this kind of work i.e. updating records you can slip into autopilot on occasion. It shouldn't happen, but we are people and not machines.

I agree with what you say - indeed I've often committed such errors myself!


However, that's not how I read the OP, although I may be being too literal. The OP does not appear to be claiming to have inadvertently accessed the wrong person's record or the wrong data, rather they seem to be saying that they inadvertently accessed a system that they should not physically have had access to(*).


In my trust the likelihood of being able to do so would be so small as to be virtually impossible. At my trust access to all our different systems (and different levels within each system) were very tightly controlled and profiled. And I say that having served on our Information Governance Committee for a couple of years.


(*) Perhaps I'm being generous to the OP in accepting that they mean "system" when they say "system", and they don't mean "record". If the former the trust has a problem, if the latter it may be more of a problem for the OP.