‘Thea Wilson looks at the recent High Court decision in MJF v University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust [2024] EWHC 3156 (KB) and considers the perennial question of how a court assesses the reliability of a witness in the face of conflicting medical records.’
12KBW 29th January 2025
Source: clinicalnegligence.blog
‘The Court of Appeal has upheld the striking out a representative action for misuse of private information. The judgment confirms the correct approach to identifying whether all claimants have the necessary ‘same interest’ in order to pursue a representative action. It highlights the risk that stripping back a claim to its lowest common denominator so as to satisfy the ‘same interest’ requirement may result in the pared down claim having no real prospect of success. Indeed, the Court of Appeal concluded that “a representative class claim for misuse of private information is always going to be very difficult to bring”.’
Henderson Chambers, 23rd December 2025
Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk
‘Prismall v Google UK Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 1516. This was not a class action but a representative action, pursuant to what is now Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) 19.8, for the tort of misuse of private information against the respondents Google UK Limited (Google) and DeepMind Technologies Limited (DeepMind). The action was on behalf of Mr Prismall and a class of persons said to number approximately 1.6 million.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 13th December 2024
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Family share medical records of Calocane’s mental illness with BBC that they say show missed opportunities to prevent attacks.’
The Guardian, 12th August 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘NHS England has confirmed its patient data managed by blood test management organisation Synnovis was stolen in a ransomware attack on 3 June.’
BBC News, 24th June 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Part I of this blog examined the protection of an individual’s HIV status under the UK’s data protection regime in the context of ongoing litigation against Grindr. Part II examines the human rights implications of the disclosure of individuals’ HIV status to third parties in the European human rights context.’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 5th June 2024
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
‘A case brought in April 2024 before the High Court of England and Wales alleges that Grindr shared sensitive information, including users’ HIV status, with third parties for commercial purposes in breach of the UK’s data protection regime. Grindr is an LGBT+ social networking and dating app with a reputation for facilitating casual sexual encounters between gay men. On their profiles, Grindr users are able to share personal health information, including their HIV status. Sharing such information before sexual intercourse is important since, in England and Wales, the transmission of a sexually-transmitted infection, such as HIV, when a sexual partner did not consent to the risk of infection can be prosecuted under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (see section 71 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021).’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 4th June 2024
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
‘New legislation will provide extra protections for victims’ counselling notes during criminal investigations.’
Ministry of Justice, 23rd April 2024
Source: www.gov.uk
‘A defendant firm has hailed a rare court decision where a claimant’s lawyers were ordered to pay towards the costs of a fundamentally dishonest claim.’
Law Society's Gazette, 28th March 2024
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A woman died after medical notes referring her for further tests were lost by a health board, an inquest has heard.’
BBC News, 2nd November 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The deaths of dozens of patients at a mental health trust who took their own lives will be reviewed externally after fears of a “cover-up” were raised.’
BBC News, 19th September 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A representative claim on behalf of 1.6 million people whose medical records were drawn upon to help Google subsidiary DeepMind develop an app has been thrown out by the High Court because of the claimants’ differing circumstances. Ruling in Prismall v Google UK & Anor, Mrs Justice Heather Williams DBE found that the claim failed the ‘same interest’ requirement set out in the civil procedure rules.’
Law Society's Gazette, 22nd May 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Greater restrictions should be introduced on the use of rape complainants’ personal records and evidence relating to their sexual behaviour to avoid rape myths contaminating trials in England and Wales, a government-commissioned review has said.’
The Guardian, 23rd May 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The High Court has struck out a representative action brought on behalf of 1.6m people who claimed Google and DeepMind Technologies misused their medical records.’
Legal Futures, 22nd May 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Police will be barred from asking for rape victims’ therapy, health, school or other personal records unless it is “absolutely necessary” under new laws to reverse plummeting conviction rates.’
Daily Telegraph, 16th May 2023
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The confidentiality of NHS medical records has been thrown into doubt after a “stalker” hospital doctor accessed and shared highly sensitive information about a woman who had started dating her ex-boyfriend, despite not being involved in her care.’
The Guardian, 14th May 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A son has accepted a settlement and an apology from the north Wales health board nearly 10 years after his mother was a patient in a mental health unit.’
BBC News, 26th March 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Health officials are recalling a further 1,500 patients of the jailed breast surgeon Ian Paterson, more than two decades after he treated them, after the discovery of an old IT database.’
The Guardian, 1st February 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Labour has urged the NHS and Matt Hancock to pause their plan to share medical records from GPs to allow time for greater consultation on how the idea would work, saying that maintaining patients’ trust must be paramount.’
The Guardian, 6th June 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
© Inner Temple Library 2025