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NHS staff may have mistakenly accessed information about a man killed by a tiger at a Yorkshire wildlife park.
William Chapman, 24, died after entering the building at the Doncaster attraction last Saturday.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service Trust said it believed two staff had accessed or attempted to access “incident/medical information… without a legitimate reason to do so”.
It said the concern was identified following “proactive audits”, and an investigation into the full circumstances was underway.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was informed and the trust said it would keep Mr Chapman’s family updated.
An inquest into the incident opened on Thursday and heard he died of “multiple traumatic injuries” after contact with the five-year-old Siberian tiger named Altai.
It was said that he was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffered from psychosis. His family did expressed concern about his contact with mental health services before his death.
A full investigation is scheduled for March.
The park reopened on Friday after being closed for nearly a week
There have been other cases of NHS staff accessing medical information about high-profile cases without a legitimate reason.
A child who was attacked by a crocodile in a zoo in June had her records accessed by dozens of staff.
Southport attack survivor Leanne Lucas had her records inappropriately accessed and was not told until two years later. Eleven employees were also fired to access the records of the 2023 Nottingham attack victims.
In September, 10 workers were removed from duty after being suspected access to the records of three-year-old Noah Woodswho was found dead in a Suffolk lake.
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The head of the NHS warned staff last month that they faced immediate suspension if caught.
A Sky News investigation found almost 3,000 data breach cases were investigated by the NHS since 2021, many with ordinary patients. Just over 400 were referred to the ICO.
Some 67% of cases resulted in a minor penalty – such as an informal, verbal or written warning, or no further action.
But of the 134 who responded to our Freedom of Information requests, only 54 said they routinely looked for potential violations.
