The NHS sending wrong patient records must stop

The issue of the NHS sending wrong patient records simply must stop. It’s a common form of breach that often leaves victims with no choice but to start legal action.

As a victim of the NHS sending the wrong patient records, which includes your records, you can be eligible to claim for data breach compensation. It typically happens where information is legitimately requested, but they either send out the wrong patient records or accidentally include the wrong patient records with the request.

There have been plenty of news stories and ICO interventions where the NHS has not handled patient records correctly, and we feel more should be done to prevent such issues.

Can the NHS sending wrong patient data lead to legal action?

The issue of the NHS sending wrong patient data can allow a victim to claim for data breach compensation. In this kind of case, the victim is usually the person whose medical data was incorrectly sent.

There are many legitimate circumstances for the NHS to send patient data to third parties. Your doctor may need to send medical data if you attend hospital; the police may require medical data for an investigating; or you may give consent for your medical data to be sent to a third party, such as your employer or to an insurance company.

But where the NHS accidentally sends the wrong patient’s data, or accidentally includes additional data for a different patient, a data breach has occurred. The person whose data should not have been sent is the person with the option for compensation.

Damages claims for the NHS sending wrong patient data

A victim of the NHS sending wrong patient data can be entitled to damages for the distress and any loss caused as a result of the breach.

As we always say, given that medical data specifically is often very personal and very sensitive, any breach involving medical information is serious. Our medical records usually contain information that we want to keep private and confidential, which is why a victim of a medical data breach can be entitled to claim

If you have been the victim of the NHS sending wrong patient data (i.e. yours), they have a duty to inform you. For legal advice, please contact the team.

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