An NHS worker secretly filmed my wife being restrained as she suffered mental health breakdown then shared it on Whatsapp – I’m furious that he has not been sacked

A furious husband is ‘disgusted’ that NHS bosses have failed to sack a worker who secretly filmed his wife as she suffered a mental breakdown and then shared the harrowing footage in a WhatsApp group.

Julie Trafford, 53, was ‘covertly’ admitted when she had a disturbing psychotic incident in the foyer of the Becklin Center in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

The male receptionist who filmed her then posted the seven videos to the messaging platform – which was seen by more than 20 strangers.

Julie’s husband Andrew is demanding answers from the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust over why the secret recorder is still in his job after his ‘nefarious’ actions.

The NHS Trust, which described the recording as an isolated incident, confirmed the staff member was still working for them despite the breach.

Husband Andrew, 59, who cares for his wife full-time, said: ‘Everything is still a bit too raw for Julie.’

The Trust has apologized and is now considering recommendations from the UK’s health regulator after five complaints about Ms Trafford’s care were upheld.

Julie has struggled with mental health issues since her twenties and has been circumcised several times.

After her father’s death three years ago, she said things had become more difficult for her.

She was admitted to the Becklin Center on October 2, 2023, suffered a breakdown on October 4 and was filmed in the reception area.

The day before she was fired on October 18, she received a letter from a member of the management. It said seven videos were taken of her and shared on a WhatsApp group without her consent.

But Julie and her husband, who have three grandchildren, are not happy that no heads have rolled.

Julie, who worked in NHS administration before she fell ill, only learned of the secret recordings almost two weeks after it took place.

Andrew said: ‘We were both told on the same day, while Julie was still in hospital and was due to be discharged the next day. They called me at the exact same time, and that was the first time we knew about it.

“The incident happened on October 4 and we were not informed about it until October 17.”

The Trafford’s have not been given an explanation as to why a staff member chose to include Julie and share the reception.

Andrew said: ‘It’s a data breach.

“We know nothing about the WhatsApp group or who created it.

‘I’ve seen the videos, and so have a lot of people, and it clearly shows Julie having a psychotic moment.

‘The only reason I can secretly film Julie is for nefarious reasons, because he certainly didn’t do it for medical reasons.

‘In the videos you see the NHS computer screen in front of it and in front of it is his laptop, and his phone is connected to the laptop – some might say he might have been live streaming.

“There were seven videos, one of which was Julie being held down. The videos are all within a 15 minute time frame.

‘He then shared them with the WhatsApp group, I have no idea what it was called, but there were at least twenty people in it. Some of them are NHS workers, but a few people were members of the public.”

Andrew said Julie’s treatment is ‘shocking’ and ‘disgusting’ and claims the NHS has failed to stick to their core values.

Andrew said the perpetrator worked as a receptionist in a ‘patient facing’ role.

Julie had her own room at the Becklin Center, but her filmed psychotic episode took place in the foyer when she tried to leave the building on October 4.

“It’s amazing that someone could have done this and then kept their job,” Andrew said.

Andrew made a complaint to West Yorkshire Police, but they were unable to find anything on which to make an arrest.

‘People don’t do this as a one-off, so it begs the question of how many other people has he done this to?

‘We want to know what else is on his hard drive and the Trust has gone through the phones of more than twenty other people with whom he shared these images.

“We want answers and closure on this matter.”

The group, of around 20 people, included some NHS colleagues, but others were members of the public.

The NHS letter said the videos were quickly removed.

The footage showed Julie repeatedly kicking and punching the front door of the hospital reception.

A later video showed her being restrained by several staff members.

She doesn’t remember much about the incident, saying, “I felt trapped and wanted to get away from the department.”

A year later, she was “still deeply upset” by the incident.

“Why would anyone do that?” she asked.

‘Especially the NHS workers. It’s completely out of order.’

The news that the employee who recorded and shared the footage has not lost his job has left the Traffords in a state of disbelief.

“Personally, I thought it was a given that he wouldn’t keep his job,” she said.

“I had hoped they wouldn’t want someone like that in their company.”

“These people need to be held accountable for sweeping this under the rug because that’s what it feels like to us.”

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England, has since upheld five of the couple’s complaints.

It made several recommendations, including that the trust should clarify whether the staff member involved continued in a patient-facing role at the centre.

The Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation trust is required to respond to the CQC’s recommendations within one month.

The trust’s chief executive, Dr Sara Munro, said she regretted the “pain caused by the unacceptable actions of a staff member” in this “shocking case”.

She said she wanted to reassure people ‘that they are safe in the care of the Trust’.

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity Sane, said Ms Trafford’s experience was ‘deeply sad and shocking’.

She added that the charity was receiving increasing reports of people ‘too scared to entrust the care of a loved one to inpatient psychiatric services’.

Trafford MP Richard Burgon has written to the trust seeking more information about their investigation.

The Information Commissioner’s Office, the government’s data protection agency, said it was also assessing the incident.

A Department of Health spokesperson said it was a ‘very concerning’ case, adding: ‘We expect NHS organizations to take allegations of staff misconduct very seriously and investigate incidents properly.

“Anyone dealing with mental health issues deserves to be cared for with dignity and respect.”