A secretary has won more than £250,000 in a long-running appeal which saw her wrongfully sacked from her role at a Leeds hospital.
Sarah Austin worked as a clerical officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Leeds General Infirmary and St James's Hospital, but she was dismissed in 2017.
The incident came to a head in December 2015 when her boss, Anthony Warren, discovered that she had cancelled one of her appointments before she had received an official letter.
As reported by the Daily Star and the Daily Mail, it was later found that Miss Austin had accessed her own files and her mother's in excess of 140 times. She was then investigated for gross misconduct and was suspended.
However, a subsequent hearing found that other members of staff also checked records and the trust's policies were not clear.
The tribunal found that Leeds hospital bosses had discriminated against Miss Austin, who suffered from fibromyalgia-related memory problems and anxiety that caused her to be forgetful and anxious.
She was eventually awarded £269,113 in damages for disability discrimination and breach of contract.
Employment judge Hannah Bright said: "Miss Austin did not know that what she was doing was wrong. She understood that she must not access or share the records of other people outside her immediate family, in particular strangers.
"But she did not understand that the same prohibition applied to her own or her mother's records.
"Miss Austin was not breaching the trust's policies or rules maliciously, intentionally or recklessly."
The judge also told the panel that Miss Austin had worked for more than 25 years - most of her adult life - and that she suffered worsening anxiety and panic attacks following her dismissal.
In a statement Miss Austin said: "I have lost my job, my career, everything that 25 years' service has built up.
"I've lost my confidence, my daily routine and my structure. I have lost relationships and friends. I have lost the ability to make or maintain either. I've lost the person I used to be."
