Privacy watchdog looks for snooping on Kate’s records

A British privacy watchdog said Wednesday it was investigating a report that staff at a private London hospital tried to snoop on the Princess of Wales’ medical records while she was a patient for abdominal surgery.

The Information Commissioner’s Office said:“We can confirm that we have received a breach report and are assessing the information provided.”

The Daily Mirror newspaper reported that at least one staff member at the London Clinic tried to look at Kate’s notes during her stay there in January. The princess had surgery at the clinic in central London on Jan. 16 and was discharged almost two weeks later.

Kensington Palace, the office of Kate and husband Prince William, said that the report was“a matter for the London Clinic.”

Al Russell, the hospital’s chief executive, said Wednesday that“all appropriate investigatory, regulatory and disciplinary steps will be taken.”

“There is no place at our hospital for those who intentionally breach the trust of any of our patients or colleagues,”he said in a statement.

Health Minister Maria Caulfield said that police had been asked to look into the matter.

“Whether they take action is a matter for them,”she told LBC radio.

“But the Information Commissioner can also take prosecutions,”she added.“So there are particularly hefty implications if you are looking at notes for medical records that you should not be looking at.”

The clinic in London’s Marylebone neighborhood, less than two miles from Buckingham Palace, has treated several members of the royal family over the decades. King Charles III spent a weekend there in January to treat an enlarged prostate.