Leanne Lucas, the yoga teacher stabbed multiple times while protecting children during the Southport attack, has said she feels "violated" after NHS staff allegedly accessed her medical records without authorisation.
Lucas was stabbed five times while trying to shield children from Axel Rudakubana during the attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024. Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and nine-year-old Alice Da Silva Aguiar were killed. Eight other children and another adult were also injured.
The former primary school teacher rushed to get children to safety and managed to call 999 amid the "absolute chaos", despite suffering devastating injuries. She suffered a fractured shoulder blade and damage to parts of her spine before eventually falling unconscious.
Further trauma over medical records
After surviving the attack, Lucas said she has now been subjected to further trauma over the handling of her private medical records. Two NHS workers have been suspended while allegations that they inappropriately accessed records connected to the Southport attack are investigated.
The cases were discovered during an audit by Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, which Lucas's solicitors had requested in September. Two members of staff have been placed on precautionary suspension while the investigation is carried out. The hospital has also reported the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office and the Care Quality Commission.
Lucas said: "What happened to me was already traumatic enough, but to discover that the very people entrusted with my care have violated my privacy causes further distress and secondary trauma. I should not have to fight for answers or accountability from a hospital where I was at my most vulnerable."
Systemic issue raised
Lucas added: "Time and time again I've been placed in this position, driven by what I can only assume is an inexcusable morbid curiosity by medical staff trained and employed to care [for] and protect patients."
The discovery comes after University Hospitals of Liverpool Group admitted in May that nearly 50 members of staff had wrongly accessed the medical records of Southport victims. The group runs Aintree Hospital, where some of those injured in the attack were treated.
Lucas's solicitor Elaine Macdonald, of Broudie Jackson Canter, said: "Leanne has already suffered the indignity of at least 40 members of medical staff inappropriately accessing her medical records during her care at a hospital under the same trust. She is now being told that it may not have ended there. Each breach erodes her trust and is a clear violation of her privacy, when she was at her most vulnerable. This is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed urgently."
Hospital apologises and investigations continue
A separate investigation is also being carried out by North West Ambulance Service Trust in relation to staff allegedly looking up victims of the attack without authorisation.
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital medical director Manoj Kuduvalli apologised and said: "We are deeply sorry that this has happened. Our patients trust us with their most personal information at some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives, and any inappropriate access to those records is a serious violation of that trust. We have been clear with all colleagues that patient records must only ever be accessed for legitimate reasons connected to their role and the patient's care. We will not accept behaviour that compromises patient confidentiality or undermines the trust our patients place in us. We have spoken to those that are affected and will keep them informed as our investigation continues."
Lucas has previously spoken of feeling "ostracised" in her home town, Southport, after the ordeal. She said: "To some I am called a hero, to others a villain. The truth is, I am neither. I am just Leanne, the woman who did her best in an unthinkable situation." She added: "I don't heal alongside or within my community. I feel ostracised in the very town where I built my life."
Speaking of the day of the incident, she said: "I acted in a way to find help as quickly as possible. Living with that knowledge is hard."
