To report this to PALS?

[oopslateagain]

Today, a man knocked on our door asking if DD lived here. After a rather awkward moment, he explained he'd had a letter from the local hospital delivered to him but the addressee was "parent or guardian of Miss Oops". The envelope had HIS address on - he lives at the other end of our street so just the number was wrong - but when I opened it, not only was there the letter about our DD but also another letter about another child that had obviously been put in by mistake.

Obviously I'm thankful that he was nice enough to knock on doors to try and find the right person, but I am really pissed off that the hospital put the wrong address on AND stuffed someone else's letter in too. That is a real breach of confidentiality - twice. The letters contain all the results of the tests of these children, descriptions of them, their lifestyle etc.

I phoned Paediatrics; the secretary couldn't apologise enough, she sounded horrified - it was her name on the letter but I'm not sure if she was the one who actually sent it out. She asked me to send back the letter that was for a different patient, and said measures would be taken to stop it happening again.

I know honest mistakes can be made, but I can't help feeling that if she was the one who made the mistake it might be swept under the carpet and conveniently forgotten about. So I phoned PALS and left a message for them to call me back.

I've since spoken to a few friends and my mum and dad; dad agrees with me but my mum and most of my friends think I'm overreacting and the woman could lose her job over this.

I would hate for anyone to get fired or face disciplinary actions, but at the same time I am really concerned that private medical information has been sent out in error like this.

So AIBU to report this to PALS?

Mistakes happen

I would not report this. Sounds like human error and the woman apologised

I used to be a medical secretary and I was that secretary once. I muddled up two letters, sent the wrong letters to the wrong parents and was disciplined (written warning) after I was reported to PALS. Quite rightly so in my opinion. Yes I'd report it to PALS and let them deal with it.

TBH we used to just copy and paste addresses so your address might be incorrect on the system which would need changing anyway in case it happens again. The other letter should not have been in the envelope though.

When I rang she confirmed my details before she would discuss anything, that included the address which was definitely the right one.

Is a written warning the normal procedure?

I used to work for the NHS in Patient Administration and I think you need to report it if only to ensure that your address (and the other patient's address) is recorded correctly on the hospital's administration system.

As Numbum says, the person concerned may face some type of (probably minor) disciplinary action over this (if it can actually be established who even typed and sent the letter!) but it would be highly unlikely that anyone would lose their job.

I probably would have rang pals as well tbh.

I wouldn't report it any further, you have let them know what happened I would leave it at that, if it happens again then I would take the complaint further.

I would expect some sort of re-training to take place but unfortunately it is more likely that the staff involved will simply be told to take more care.

It might be worth mentioning that a lot of Trusts use mailing services provided by private firms to do the printing and enveloping. Therefore it's possible that the mistake occurred outside the hospital. If this is the case, then the Hospital should be able to identity this and alert the company to their error.

I had a similar accident happen once. I didn't complain, but I did ring the unit so they could re-send a letter to the other child's parents to make sure they wouldn't miss their next appointment. The confidentiality issue didn't really worry me. I doubt the other family was any more interested in dd's info than I was in their child's, so I just chucked the wrong letter on the fire. Accidents happen to everybody, so I didn't want to make a big fuss.

It is a data breach, in this instance no harm done but there could be a process error that needs to be corrected - it should not be possible for these things to happen.

I would report it on this basis as the fines for major breaches are huge, at least letting them know gives them a chance to sort it out before it becomes a major issue?

They will not lose their job over one complaint!! They will get a warning.

You do need to complain though. It cannot be left!!

Yes you should speak to PALS to ensure it doesn't happen to anyone else

Good point Yddraig, well it makes me feel less guilty, anyway!

The envelope was handwritten so at least there's not an error on the address database.

Fines for data breaches may be huge but I doubt they'd be for a breach that only applied to one or 2 people. I think you have done the right thing. I'd imagine the action taken would be a confirmation that systems hold the right addresses and a written reminder to all staff to double check this stuff

The trust will also have to contact the other party as there has been a potential breach of personal information. You can contact pals either to make a point or to make an official complaint. Either way an incident should be raised so processes can be looked at to make sure this doesn't happen again. The dept I work in once sent out 10 letters in one envelope, before I started there I hastened to add. Nobody had a clue how it happened but it has certainly never happened since.

reporting it to pals was the right thing to do. I work as a domestic in a hospital 8 years ago my department got so many complaints via PALS that led to some very big changes. The problem was we as a team was very understaffed but management wasn't listening until high levels of complaints was made.

It was hell working there at the time, but now it is enjoyable going into work

I wouldn't have been happy about this at all. I would however have taken my action on the reception I recieved on the phonecall.

In this case apologetic and if it was the same person who had made the mistake she has aologised profusely.

I expect she'll be worried so if you decide not to report it I would perhaps let her know.

I would report.

I did when the maternity unit called my landline and disclosed to my mother (who was unaware at the time) that I was pregnant.

The Information Commissioner's ffice have been fining for data breached pretty heavily recently

The hospital will need to report the data breach to the ICO.

DeliaRose

The ico take number of people affvyed into account

You are doing the right thing by reporting.

A major mistake has been made and it needs to be addressed to stop it happening again.

The woman's job isn't your concern, and if she does lose her job, it will go to someone else that deserves it who hopefully won't make the same mistake.

Something similar happened at my work & the person responsible faces the sack for it.

I'd report it. If it happened again there could be consequences that there weren't this time.

If next people didn't keep the others peoples information to themselves and they moved in the same social circles for example.

Yes its only two families here but there might have been another 20 that day or that week or that month.

Inform them and they can investigate and assess if changes are needed.

Thanks everyone; the overwhelming response seems to be to go ahead and report it - at least this time the information was fairly harmless, if there's a next time it could be something highly sensitive.

I'll see what PALS says tomorrow.

Good decision Oops.
The only way the system can improve is if errors come to light and are dealt with.
I recieve some very sensitive information in my letters from the hospitals, which I would not want my neighbours to read. Hopefully they never will.