Political letter from my gp telling who to vote for

[FluffyJellyCat]

Is this even allowed? The gp isn't wrong in what he is saying. But how did he get my personal data to write to me? It's a proper letter addressed to me at my address. Could he access my data for a local election?

Conflict of interest? Gdpr? I'm not going to complain because I have enought going on in my life. But surely this isn't allowed?

What next? The schools head telling me who to vote for?

I'd be writing to the ICO with that one. A gross misuse of the data which was supplied for medical comms.

It's pretty obvious how he got your address is it not?

Are they standing?

No it's for one of the major 3

As pp said it's possible they are a candidate - in which case they got your address ftom the electoral register.

in our local authority the head teachers sent out a joint letter to all parents / carers which was clearly telling us which party to vote for

Absolutely vile.

If we allow people in positions of power to get away with pressuring people to vote a certain way, our society is in a scary place.

I imagine vulnerable people and the elderly could be quite influenced by their GP (the gatekeeper of medical care).

I WOULD be complaining.

This election truly has had the most underhanded and wild boundary crossing that I have ever seen.

UK politics is getting very American.

What are you talking about?

Huge breach of GDPR. I wouldn’t complain to the practise. They’ll strike you off. I would go to the GMC and make a complaint as well as the ICO.

As long as the addresses were lawfully obtained, there’s no problem with this. It’s not new.

Is it possible that the letter actually went out via the local party (who will have your details from the electoral roll) and the GP is a party member/supporter who just agreed to put his name to it?

It's not unreasonable for a Health care provider or a school to ask people to consider voting for the party most likely to fund them properly. Nobody will know who you actually vote for.

Not a candidate but I guess they could still have got my info off the electoral register. Anyone can access that can't they?

We have had a few personalised letters but from randoms

But they were lawfully obtained for a totally different purpose.

As long as the GP didn’t get your address from your patient file I don’t think there’s a problem.

How can they possibly even know. All politicians lie through their teeth to get elected. Let’s be honest. She’s been told to vote for labour.

The tactics being used to influence the vote are starting to cross the line

What does it say, I'm guessing it was sent to all patients, they have names and addresses on the computer. What a waste of manpower, time, money and this is not what a gp should be doing. No wonder the NHS is in a crisis. I'd complain to your health authority for wasting resources. How ironic if the letter mentions the NHS, doctors hours and lack of money, the media would have a field day.

Who did they tell you to vote for?

Seriously, have none of you heard of this before?? It’s happened forever, it’s really not a big deal. I’ve had it from the dentist and a school in the past.

Yes I guess so. Didn't consider that!

One of the kids heads has been vocal about labour getting in but it's all quite subtle and factual.

Was the letter on practice headed paper?

Aside from anything, I'd feel uncomfortable knowing my gp's politics. I want treatment to be neutral.

What is the context of the letter?

Is it written on behalf of the GP surgery, highlighting specific policies and how they would affect the services that the GP practice is able to offer to you as a service user of that practice.

Or is it written on behalf of the GP who is standing for election as an MP.

I've had proper letters addressed to me at my address from some of our local candidates but also from a business person locally who sends out letters as part of their party membership, they're a local name that put their details on the letter (assuming to make it feel more "local" and personal) - they'll have got my details from the electoral register / party membership I believe.

Your GP won't have got peoples addresses from the medical records to send letters out I don't think - they'd get in ridiculous amounts of trouble.

My private dentist is clearly a capitalist, I'd love to know who he votes for!