What is a Medical Data Breach?
This is when your GP Practice, Walk-in Centre, Hospital, Pharmacy, NHS, Optician or any other medical body including private companies holding medical information about you and your family breaches your data by:
- Sending your GP records to the wrong person;
- Losing your personal information;
- Posting on social media;
- Sending you incorrect test results or losing test results;
- Sharing your information unlawfully or without your consent;
- Gathering and collecting your data unlawfully;
- Negligence;
- Not keeping your data safe from cyber-attacks, cybercriminals and hackers
- Not storing data safely;
- Allowing unauthorised access;
- Not providing adequate training to staff or anyone with authorised access to your data;
- Failed internal policies and safeguards.
Your medical information is one of the most personal and sensitive data that can be held and so any breaches of that data will immediately give rise to a potential data breach claim and CEL Solicitors can help. We will provide a free initial consultation discussing all your options and advising you if we consider that you have a claim worth pursuing your medical data breach.
How is your Data Breached?
Unfortunately, with medical data breaches almost 90% of all data breaches are human error, at CEL Solicitors one of the most common breaches is that of your medical records either going missing or being sent to the wrong patient.
In addition, with a big push on GPs and hospitals to move to storing and sending data digitally this leaves big vulnerabilities in systems internally by staff or externally by cyber criminals. We saw that in 2018 when a coding error in the NHS system breached 150,000 patients.
It is the law that the NHS, your GP and any other medical body including private medical companies must ensure that:
- Your data isn’t breached, leaked or compromised;
- Your data is obtained and collected lawfully;
- Your data is secure from cyber-attacks, cybercriminals and hackers;
- Your data is stored and accessed safely;
- Staff with access to your data are trained adequately;
- Internal policies and safety measures are also adequate.
Is a Medical Data Breach Serious?
Yes, due to the very nature of the medical information, this can be some of the most severe types of data breaches. Every year there are at least 2,500 data breaches by the NHS and this is on the rise now that more of your data is stored and accessed electronically.
At CEL Solicitors we understand that medical data is some of the most sensitive and personal data you can hold so we appreciate the worry and late nights that a breach like this may cause you. Rest assured that all staff at CEL Solicitors are trained to sensitively deal with you and your claim from start to finish to ensure that you get the justice you deserve. At CEL Solicitors we listen, we care and we win!
Can I Make a Claim?
Yes, it’s easy and simple to make a claim through CEL Solicitors and speak with our experts and solicitors to get free initial legal advice on whether your medical data has been breached.
CEL Solicitors deal with GPs and hospitals on a daily basis not just for data breaches but across all areas that we practice so we are experts in dealing with your Defendant; that’s why we have already successfully helped thousands of clients just like you.
In accordance with the law (GDPR), your doctor or medical governing body must inform you if your data has been breached, hacked, compromised or lost and that is the easiest way to know whether you have a claim for data breach against your GP Practice, Walk-in Centre, Hospital or any other medical body.
If your data has been breached you do not need to have suffered a financial loss, we can still help you to claim compensation for:
- Stress;
- Distress;
- Embarrassment;
- mental health;
- physical suffering or
- the inconvenience of the breach.
So if your personal data and information have not been properly protected, you have a right to claim compensation even when you haven’t suffered financially as a result.
CEL Solicitors will provide free initial advice as to whether or not we consider that you have a data breach and we will take the stress away from making a claim by contacting your GP or medical association and holding them accountable by getting you the justice and compensation you deserve. This will also put pressure on your doctor and hospitals into improving their internal and external practices and putting better safety measures in place to ensure that this does not happen again to you or your family.
How much compensation can you get for a Medical data breach claim?
You can be awarded data breach compensation for:
- Financial loss;
- Breach of data;
- Emotional hurt;
- Inconvenience.
We deal with each case on an individual basis as each case and circumstances are as unique as you. The amount of compensation you may receive will depend on:
- the severity of your circumstances;
- the sensitivity of the data ;
- the amount of financial loss;
- the severity of any associated emotional distress caused;
- as well as any other relevant factors.
On average at CEL Solicitors our clients receive just under £2,000 for a data breach, which is much higher than the £750 outlined in test law however as stated above this can increase to up to £25,000+ or decrease depending on the individual circumstances of the case and severity of the data breach.
