NHS letter sent to the wrong address

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AIBU - it is a data protection issue

AINBU - it’s not a data protection issue

A NHS appointment containing personal medical conditions has been sent to my old address. I have contacted PALS and they don’t understand why as the address it has been sent to isn’t listed on the system. They said it’s not a data protection issue as I lived there previously..

Surely that can’t be right?!

It is a data breach and they should be reporting it.

It's not automatically a data breach, though it creates a risk of one as the current occupant could open it. However, their response to you is incorrect.

This is a similar case op.
https://www.theguardian.com/government-computing-network/2012/jul/12/st-georges-healthcare-trust-fine

Yes, it is a data breach

How much are you after?
If the letter contained sensitive information that would normally be FYEO and held on computer records, then it's a data breach.
If it's what time your appointment is, you might be disappointed.

Thank you, that’s what I thought.

@ScentOfAMemory I’m not after anything at all! Just didn’t want some personal medical information being sent to family members before I told them about it!

It was sent to my old family address and my sister opened it in error…

How long have you lived at your new address?

12 years. All other letters from this hospital have come to my current address

I wouldn’t be happy but It can’t be un sent your sister can’t Un see it
I want to make sure your address is corrected but wouldn’t waste peoples time and nhs money going through the complaint process

@rwalker What’s really baffling is the address it’s been sent to isn’t on their system for me…

This isn’t about changing the outcome for the op now, but it most definitely is about highlighting a serious breach to the specific health trust, so that they can implement processes to ensure it never happens again, to anyone. Someone, or their system, seriously fucked up, and it needs to be complained about for them to recognise their current processes are flawed and needs improving.

I had a similar probem where I was getting emails for hospital appointments for my now adult son. His records were somehow still linked to mine from when he was under 18.
The hospital said it was the GP's records that were wrong, the GP checked and their records were all ok. I eventually did go through the complaints procedure with the hospital and it got sorted out.
I made it clear I wasn't looking to sue them or anything, just that it was an issue that needed addressing as a GDPR breach.

It is a data breach and you should report it. It isn’t a matter of wasting resources - people finding out information about you that you didn’t want them to know can cause serious issues and have implications. It might not in your case but could it someone else’s. This needs reporting and escalating.

thank you @Woahtherehoney and @MagpiePi

They are currently investigating how it has happened.

I had a baby a few months ago and all of the appointments for this were sent to the correct address. It is just very strange

Hospitals depts sometimes have multiple systems. Ask them to check with the dept that sent the appointment what your address is on ALL their systems.

Yes a data breach. I had multiple appointment letters for a scan sent to an address I'd lived in 6 years previous (it wasn't even my most recent address) and was registered as DNA as they'd sent 3 appointments out before I phoned and asked! Never thought to report it though would have if it had had sensitive information e.g. letter from consultant

They did the exact same to me!!

It went to my mums old address, I hadn't lived there in 10 years. I was really upset as it was personal information. I got the same response as you OP, didn't end up chasing it as I was obviously dealing with a health issue at the time.

So strange - I've just had this. A NHS appointment letter for my son (aged 10) has gone to my Mums address.
He's never lived there, previous letters for him have come to the right address. (We've been in the same house since he was born) and I haven't lived at my Mums for over 20 years!
Really odd.

It’s an important matter of principle and if everyone affected just said, “oh, well, it’s just a mistake and there’s no point in complying”, then the mistakes will continue to occur. Some patients do have very sensitive health issues.
From the frequency of “mistakes” it appears that the huge number of health agencies have their own data systems in addition to using the general national system and that the “local” systems are not regularly updated to show the latest addresses. The clerk checks names, date of birth etc but has no way of telling if the address that pops up is current without logging into the central national system.
Surely a simple glitch for some techy to fix

Wow such a simliar thing happened to me. It was test results and they went to my family member's address and I hadn't lived there for at least 18/19 years at the time these were sent now longer. In fact had multiple addresses since and never had results go any where else but the correct addresses apart from the one time a hospital tested my results. The fact I hadnt lived at that property since I was like 9/10 still baffles me.

I have just had something similar. My DD’s personal details (including DOB and current address) were texted to another patient in the practice, as were several texts regarding appointment times and places, and details of my DD’s prescription. It was only picked up when the random other person contacted the GP’s surgery and said they wanted the texts stopping. The surgery called me to say they had stopped the texts from their practice to the random, but that my DD (who is still a minor) needs to contact the hospital to tell them her correct phone number and she needs to go online to put in her correct phone number for the surgery. They are not testing it as a GDPR breach and say they are not going to correct the wrong contact details they sent to the hospital as my DD can do that. I’m cross enough that they did this, but their reply has made me cross enough to make a formal complaint.

I had this last month with my son. So weird as our new address has been correct at the GP for 3 years and the hospital said that’s where their get everyone’s addresses/it’s the same system.

I knew about my son’s hospital appointment because the GP receptionist chased his referral for me and then let me know when and where his appointment was.

Didn’t piss me off, I just rang the hospital and changed the address at their end. But weird.

Depends what system they're using. In our trust we use one patient records system, but the acute trust and the GP services trust in the same area uses another system, and god knows what paediatrics use but we never get people's records as they transition into adult services so for all I know they're chiseling it on tablets of stone. Only takes one of those systems to have clung onto the "old" address and you'd not know unless you checked will all the different healthcare providers around the area.

It is an effing nightmare - and the cause of much private effing and jeffing among our colleagues - we correct things where we can and double check information when people come on and off our caseload but it's such a bloody debacle.