Near miss data breach - DD’s NHS appointment letter.

[user1488481370]

DD (8) was referred to a continence nurse around 7/8 months ago now as she’s still wet on a night.

Difficulty being that one of the continence nurses in the area is our next door neighbour (shes also my partner’s brother’s girlfriend) who has made our lives hell for the last couple of years. So much so they the police have been involved on numerous occasions and she’s been interviewed and cautioned. When I asked for DD to be referred, I explicitly asked that this person had nothing to do with her care.
We got a lovely nurse and DD has made great progress with her.

Said nurse always sends appointments letters, we’ve had numerous letters so far - they have always had the correct address on them.

The latest letter, however, has said neighbour’s address on. I’m so suspicious and really smell a rat. I’ve asked others opinions and they smell a rat too but I wanted the over all consensus from a bunch of anonymous people who will give it to me straight and perhaps won’t humour me and my anxious mind.

Its only because we had a new postie that the letter wasn’t delivered to their house.

I rang the appropriate department last week and asked which address they had on file for DD. They read out the correct address and even simulated a letter to see which address appeared and again, it was the correct one. Lady on the phone was very apologetic and has put a note on the system about the address.

My neighbour really, really has it in for us, without going into too much detail. I’m so paranoid that she’s somehow changed DD’s address on the system, sent the letter and then changed it back again. I just can’t understand how this letter has their address on it. Even the lady I spoke to was perplexed. I want it investigating but are these things traceable? Is it a waste of time?

The change of information needs to be checked. If the nurse concerned has threatened the family and police have been involved, this could be an escalation of behaviour as well as a breach of confidentiality and professional ethics. The safety of the child has to come first as well as to ensure it's known the nurse should be barred from access or involvement in the family's care. Whether there is proof or not, there's a serious issue that needs to be addressed. OP had already made clear to the hospital she didn't want the nurse to provide any care for dc, this is common when it's relatives, friends or colleagues. I understand what you're saying, but given the back story, this can't be left.

Report it to PALs , caldicot guardian. The clinical systems are all time stamped so you can see who has been searching what and what editing people have done.

@Spicedgran not good at all. The brother is quite a bit older than OH and has bullied/controlled him for much of his life.
He actually has a criminal record for beating OH up.

How awful OP for you to have to live next to this person. @endofthelinefinally is giving good advice. As others have said it's frightening this woman is a nurse.
I'm sure when you are renewing your nurse registration you have to declare any convictions or cautions.
You said she put glass around your childrens toys and she is a paediatric nurse- that is horrific!

@AllTheYoungGoodyTwoShoes im not sure that she’s a paediatric nurse - she’s a specialist nurse though. She openly admits to anyone that she dislikes children. Yes, I’m going to follow @endofthelinefinally ’s advice for definite!

I think it's traceable. Ask the hospital if they have a transcription department and it will be traced there if someone has typed it up. If they don't use a transcription department then the specialist's own secretary will have done it, but yes, it should be traceable. In the letter reference there could be the initials of the person who typed the letter.

Ah okay, so she could be an adult nurse who specialises in continence, I'm not sure if they deal with children as well then.
Still, her behaviour that you've described is not acceptable for any nurse. She should be declaring the caution to the NMC, I'm not sure what happens after that, I would presume they would investigate.

I don’t mean the nmc for the data breach I mean for her behaviour! As a nurse she has a code of conduct to abide by in and out of work! I’m a nurse myself and have seen people struck off for things they’ve done outside of work

It might be traceable depending on the system.

What you need to do is find the way of contacting the Data Protection Officer at the trust involved. should be a dedicated email. Just outline your complaint as you have in your original post. Make it questions “how did this happen?”, “who accessed the system?”, “How can you ensure the safeguarding in place following police involvement is followed through” rather than accusations. Make sure to include the positive feedback about the service and your daughters progress so they can see you are being reasonable and measured.

Finish with saying that you want to be assured of the answers to these questions and that you will only go to the Information Commissioner’s Office if they cannot resolve things satisfactorily.

Depending on the risks involved in contact, you may wish to consider formalising any no-contact you have in place (take advice on this not from AIBU).

Good luck, sounds like a nightmare.

It has to have been changed deliberately to change a whole house name. A number could be an input error 41 instead of 4, but not a whole house name.

Can you move away? This sounds like misery living near these people.

I’m so sorry you are dealing with this. I had awful (batshit) neighbours that bullied and intimidated the whole street for years. Moving away was bloody magic!

With you saying it's the house name changed is it something like
ABC HOUSE
ABC COTTAGE
ABC FARM
Which could be a simple admin cockup with all having the same postcode or is it something lik
ABC HOUSE
DEF HOUSE
GHI HOUSE
That would take more than an easy error?

"It has to have been changed deliberately to change a whole house name. A number could be an input error 41 instead of 4, but not a whole house name."

Sometimes you input the postcode and it gives you a drop down box of properties at that postcode. I think it's possible that someone clicked on the wrong choice from those offered.

I think it's more plausible than someone carrying out a traceable, sackable offence for the thrill of a child missing their incontinence appointment.

@HashtagShitShop our address is ABC Farm cottage and the other is ABC barn.

She would have no need to do this - she could just read the letter on screen, if it's a report from a clinic appointment. I think you are jumping to conclusions. However, I would report the Data Breach, without throwing wild accusations about. If the address is only a digit away from yours, it's likely been done manually and a typing error.

i dont spose they would tell you their full findings regarding her op.

That could easily be done wrongly with a drop down menu as pp's have said.

However, I'd have thought that the details were already on the system so you wouldn't need to use a Royal Mail postcode feed.

It could be a simple admin error, it could be something more sinister. Report it, get it investigated and you'll find out.

It may be a genuine error.

But OP has said it's not just a digit away and also that there may be more malice intended e.g. wishing the OP to miss an appointment.

I agree with @KaloolaDeBue that at this stage you aren't reporting this person, you are reporting THE FACT that a letter was incorrectly addressed and addressed to the exact person you have had to call the police for. Whomever did it, and however it happened, it needs sorting out so it doesn't happen again. And if it was this lady, then that's another layer to deal with.

Yes report it!
I work in the NHS and a manager has access to see what you have been doing...that will be able to see who changed the address and when.

So it is your name with her address?

It could be an error with a drop down box-but it's not bloody good enough!

So the name & address don't match-shocking!

Of course it needs reporting!

@diddl yes, well, parent/carer of DD and then next door’s address. I just thought it would all have been automatic. Like they wouldn’t have to manually add the address as it’s not the first letter that’s been sent by this department.

I used to work in health records. Everything is traceable.

That could happen accidentally via a dropdown if the address was searched for by postcode. I have got a friend who lives in a similar setup (similar house names all on the same postcode). As I understand it (and I was involved in local NHS planning and rollout of digital systems some 10 years ago), its a requirement that all systems have some kind of digital footprint tracking. As others have already said, your route is via the Caldecott Guardian's office or PALS and yes, stick to the facts. Given your situation, I would be very careful about doing anything that your neighbour can pick up as harassment, so don't name her, don't go to the NMC, etcet etcet. However it happened, it shouldn't have done which is the important bit.

Is the address on the letter in a see-through window envelope or is it printed directly onto the envelope?

@godmum56 thank you, definitely not naming names or throwing accusations around but I would like to get to the bottom of it for my own sanity.

@pastabest it was a see through window envelope so printed directly onto the letter.