Hospital sent info to wrong address

[TryItAndDieFatLass]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice or information as to what to do next.

Last July I asked for copies of my hospital records to be sent to me. I had recently moved address (to outside of that hospital trust) but records from 2 of the hospitals were sent to the correct address within a month. Fast forward to December when a phone call from an old neighbour of mine at the previous address said she had signed for a package and forwarded it onto me. 3 weeks later I get a phone call from an address 100 miles away to say they had my records and would post them on. These duly arrived 1 week later.

So I'm very angry that confidential info was sent to my old address but I'm even more upset that it was the health records from my dealings with the Mental Health teams. I wrote and complained back in late December, its been received but nothing since. I am going to email them to chase it up but does anyone have any experience of this?

When you made your request, did you check with each of the hospitals that they had the correct address for you?

No, I addressed it to the Trust and asked for all info from the 3 different hospitals involved. I thought as 2 of the hospitals got it right it seems strange the third didnt (but knowing MH services maybe not.....)

If you had recently moved it was your responsibility to let them know change of address.

On your letter did you mention the address to send it to?

I had to go to a&e at a different nearby hospital, and they had an old address for me. It’s not quite all linked.

I moved 200 miles out of that Trust so didnt notify each hospital individually, I did mark in my application form clearly the address the records pertained to, and also where the info was to be sent.

My files were lost in a Scottish car park a few years back. they did apologise though eh.

With something so sensitive and given you had changed address I would have checked and double checked they all had the right address.

Not good at all. But...a lot of places MH is under a different trust?

Same trust, and as for double checking, I filled in their offical form and received info from 2 of the different hospitals so presumed all was fine.

You should report it to the ICO - that is a massive GDPR breach

Thanks enterthewolves, you agree its worth it? Second guessing myself that maybe it isnt as serious as my anxiety makes it out to be

Ah, if it is the same trust, I probably would complain. Because it sounds likely that there's a system failure, and you might save it happening to someone else. Though I might start with PALS, and then go ballistic if not getting anywhere.