Hospitals should be a safe environment, providing comprehensive medical care and treatment to patients. However, to provide effective treatment, hospitals are also responsible for handling your personal data such as your medical records, contact details and your address. If this personal data was compromised, it can have debilitating effects on your health, wellbeing and finances. At Data Breach Claims, we understand that it’s not only a breach of data, but it’s also a complete breach of trust. Fortunately, our team can help you navigate hospital data breach claims.
We appreciate that the prospect of making a compensation claim can be worrying. Thankfully, we’re here to help you. Our advisory team work meticulously to answer your questions, give helpful advice and provide case checks. You could also be connected with one of the specialist solicitors from our panel to start your hospital data breach claim. Operating on a No Win No Fee basis, you could enjoy regular claim updates so you always know where your case stands. With decades of combined experience, our panel of talented solicitors are ready to help pursue the compensation that you deserve.
To start your claim today, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly team:
- Call us on 020 8050 6279
- Contact us by filling out our online form
- Ask about making a hopsital data breach claim in our live chat
We Can Help With Your Claim
Our team of specialist advisors are ready to assist you with your data breach claim
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I Claim Compensation For A Hospital Data Breach?
- What Personal Information Will A Hospital Hold?
- How Might A Data Breach In A Hospital Occur?
- What Hospital Data Breach Compensation Can I Get?
- How Can I Claim For A Hospital Data Breach?
- No Win No Fee Data Breach Claims
- More Information
Can I Claim Compensation For A Hospital Data Breach?
Yes, you could claim compensation for a hospital data breach if you can prove that a hospital failed to adhere to data protection laws, resulting in your harm. In hospital data breach claims, you must fulfil the following requirements:
- A hospital breached your personal data by failing to adhere to data protection laws
- Your personal data was affected by this breach
- You suffered psychological harm, financial losses or both, due to the data breach.
As part of its function in providing healthcare services, hospitals hold a wide range of personal data of staff members and patients. Both the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) exist as the legal framework for how data should be protected in the UK, including that processed by a hospital. Therefore, if a hospital fails to adhere to such data protection laws, this could result in a personal data breach, causing subsequent harm.
The definition of a personal data breach is best described by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO); it’s a security incident that impacts the availability, integrity, or confidentiality of personal data. The ICO monitor data protection in the UK and can issue fines to organisations that fail to comply with the legislation in place to protect personal data.
To learn more about your eligibility to claim, please get in touch with one of our friendly advisors today.
What Personal Information Will A Hospital Hold?
A hospital will hold many different types of personal information, some of which will be considered personal data and special category data.
Personal data is any type of information that could be used to identify you such as:
- Your name
- Your phone number
- Your home address
- Your email address
Moreover, special category data is sensitive in nature and therefore requires extra protections. Please keep reading our useful guide to learn about the different kinds of special category data that could be breached.
Are Medical Records Classed As Personal Data?
Yes, medical records are classed as personal data as they contain detailed information that concerns your health. Your health information is classed as special category data, along with the following examples (which may also be found within your medical records):
- Data concerning your racial or ethnic origin
- Genetic data
- Data concerning a person’s sex life
- Biometric data
Therefore, any breach of this kind of personal data can have distressing effects on your health and wellbeing. To discuss your experience with one of our advisors and find out more about hospital data breach claims, please contact our team today.
How Might A Data Breach In A Hospital Occur?
A data breach in a hospital could occur due to a number of reasons, such as human error or deliberate actions. As such, please see the following examples and how hospital data breach claims could arise as a result:
- A member of staff at a hospital could send the wrong email to a patient, containing a copy of another patient’s medical records because they failed to confirm the email address.
- A hospital administrator could accidentally send a letter of an autoimmune disease diagnosis to the wrong postal address due to not updating their records with a change of address request.
- A hospital could fail to protect their systems with cybersecurity software, making personal information easily accessible to hackers. Hackers could therefore access the medical records or multiple patients and share them online or delete them.
- Staff at a hospital could openly discuss the health of a patient in front of others, revealing their medical information.
Please note that the above list is not exhaustive for hospital data breaches. For an in-depth analysis of your situation, please contact one of our advisors today.
What Hospital Data Breach Compensation Can I Get?
Hospital data breach compensation could award you for up to two different types of damage: material and non-material damage. Non-material damage relates to any psychological harm you may have suffered due to your personal data breach such as depression, PTSD and anxiety.
When assessing the value of your non-material damage, the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) will be used along with your medical evidence. The JCG publication is widely used by legal professionals as it contains compensation guidelines for many different forms of harm.
All entries in the table below, aside from the first figure, have been taken from the JCG. Please note that they are merely guidelines and do not guarantee how much you could receive.
| Harm | Notes | Guideline Pay-out |
|---|---|---|
| Very severe mental harm with monetary losses | Very severe mental harm plus compensation for material damage, such as treatment, relocation and security. | Up to £500,000+ |
| Severe Psychiatric Damage | Factors such as whether medical help was sought and any future vulnerability will be taken into account. | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Moderately Severe Psychiatric Damage | There will be problems coping with relationships and in life, but the prognosis is better than more severe cases. | £23,270 to £66,920 |
| Moderate Psychiatric Damage | With a marked improvement by trial and a good prognosis. | £7,150 to £23,270 |
| Less Severe Psychiatric Damage | This will consider the length of the disability period and the affect on sleep | £1,880 to £7,150 |
| Severe PTSD | Involving permanent effects that may prevent employment, and functioning to the pre-trauma level. | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Moderately Severe PTSD | Involving a significant disability for the future, however there may be some recovery with professional help. | £28,250 to £73,050 |
| Moderate PTSD | Continuing effects won't be grossly disabling. | £9,980 to £28,250 |
| Less Severe PTSD | Where there has been virtually a full recovery may have been made within one to two years, or persistence of minor symptoms. | £4,820 to £9,980 |
Material Losses In Hospital Data Breach Claims
You could also claim for any material losses in hospital data breach claims. In essence, material damage relates to any financial losses you may have suffered due to the personal data breach.
You could claim compensation for the following:
- Loss of earnings. If your psychological harm left you unable to work, you could include the costs of any lost income from that period.
- Home relocation costs. If your home details were involved in a personal data breach, it may cause a fear for your safety. You could therefore include the costs of home relocation such as installation fees and moving costs.
- Medical expenses. For instance, you could include the costs of counselling or prescription costs you may have incurred due to your psychiatric harm.
It’s also essential that you can prove any material damage with evidence via payslips, receipts, invoices and bank statements.
To learn more about claiming for material losses, please contact our advisory team today.
We Can Help With Your Claim
Our team of specialist advisors are ready to assist you with your data breach claim
How Can I Claim For A Hospital Data Breach?
You could claim for a hospital data breach by gathering evidence and being aware of the time limits. After a hospital data breach has occurred, you could start to gather the following items to support your claim:
- A letter of notification of the breach. Organisations must inform you if they discover that your personal data has been involved in a breach via a letter or an email. You could therefore use this letter to support the fact that your data has been breached.
- The findings of an ICO investigation. Following a personal data breach, you could report this to the ICO within 3 months of the last meaningful communication with the hospital. The ICO could then investigate the breach, and the findings could be used to support your case. However, an ICO investigation is not necessary to claim.
- Your medical records. To prove that you have suffered psychiatric harm following a data breach, you will need to provide a copy of your medical records. Therefore, if you sought medical attention for the harm you suffered, this can provide an official documentation.
Moreover, you will generally have up to 6 years to make a data breach claim. The 6-year time limit will begin from the date that you first became aware of the data breach.
To learn more about the time limits involved when making hospital data breach claims, please get in touch with our advisors today.
No Win No Fee Data Breach Claims
At Data Breach Claims, our friendly team of advisors work around the clock to provide a fully personalised service to people just like you. Following an eligibility assessment, you could be connected with one of the specialist No Win No Fee solicitors from our panel to start your compensation claim. As experts in hospital data breach claims, you could enjoy the following benefits under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA):
- No solicitor service fees at the beginning of your claim, as it progresses, or in the event that your claim is unsuccessful.
- You will be required to pay a small success fee to your solicitor if your claim is a success. The fee is legally capped and will be taken from your compensation as a percentage. As a result, you’ll always receive the majority of your compensation to help you get your life back on track.
Our talented panel of solicitors can also provide the following advantages:
- Arrangement of an independent medical assessment to support your claim for non-material damage
- Regular updates so you always know where your claim stands
- Explanations of legal terminologies and help with signing documents
- Help with evidence-gathering such as medical records and financial documents
- Negotiations with the data processor to achieve a settlement that you deserve
To learn more about the benefits of Conditional Fee Agreements, please get in touch with our friendly advisors today.
Contact Our Team
To start the claims process, please get in touch with our advisory team today:
- Call us on 020 8050 6279
- Contact us by filling out our online form
- Ask about making a claim in our live chat.
More Information
To learn more about compensation for a compromise of your personal data, please see some of our other guides:
- Learn about charity data breach claims
- Get help with credit score data breach claims
- See the following advice on making a divorce data breach claim
Additional external resources:
- Learn how to make a data protection complaint from the ICO
- See the following advice on post-traumatic stress disorder from the NHS
- Get help with the data protection laws from Gov.UK
Thank you for reading our useful guide about hospital data breach claims.