If you’ve been a victim of a hospital data breach, you may be interested in starting a claim for compensation. A healthcare data breach can cause you to suffer from psychological injuries and financial losses. If the damage was caused due to positive wrongful conduct on the part of the organisation responsible for your data, you may be eligible to make a data breach claim.
Hospital data breach claims guide
This guide will discuss how a personal data breach can occur and what compensation you may be able to claim. You can read about the process of how to report a data protection breach alongside what constitutes a personal data breach. We will also highlight guideline settlement amounts and discuss how our advisors can help you understand what your claim may be worth.
Finally, we will explain how No Win No Fee data breach solicitors could help you strengthen your claim. To learn more about starting the claims process, continue with this guide. Alternatively, you can contact our advisors at any time that suits you:
- Call us at 020 8050 3051
- Use the live chat
- Contact us on our website
Choose A Section
- What is a Hospital Data Breach?
- How Could A Hospital Data Breach Happen?
- How Long Do Hospital Data Breach Claims Take?
- Data Breach Payout – What Could You Receive?
- How To Report a Data Protection Breach
- Why Make A No Win No Fee Hospital Data Breach Claim?
- Learn More About Making A Data Breach Claim
What is a Hospital Data Breach?
A data breach is described as a security incident involving the purposeful or accidental alteration, disclosure, loss, destruction or access to your personal data. This includes any information that identifies you, such as:
- Your name
- Home address
- Passwords
- Phone number
- Date of birth
Data protection laws are in place to ensure that your information is handled safely and securely. The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) dictate the steps that data controllers and processors must take when handling your personal data.
- Data controllers: Make decisions regarding why and how they handle your personal data.
- Data processors: Process this data on the controller’s behalf, following their instructions.
In order to make a data breach compensation claim, you must provide evidence of wrongful conduct and material or non-material damage. We will discuss these terms further in this hospital data breach guide.
How Could A Hospital Data Breach Happen?
Hospitals collect, store and process both digital and physical forms of personal data. Because of this, there are many ways that a personal data breach could occur. Some examples of how wrongful conduct could contribute to a personal data breach include:
- A pharmacy employee leaves your prescription records unattended on a public-facing desk. This then allows
- A GP surgery employee employee sends a batch email without using the blind carbon copy feature (BCC). This allows other recipients of the email to view your personal email address.
- Your doctor verbally discloses details of your medical conditions from your medical records with an unauthorised third party.
If any of the above circumstances relate to your hospital data breach, you may be eligible to claim compensation. However, you must meet the criteria set out in data protection legislation. Providing evidence of wrongful conduct on the data controller or processor’s part can support your claim. For more information, call our advisors today.
How Long Do Hospital Data Breach Claims Take?
The length of your hospital data breach claim will depend on various factors. If an organisation becomes aware of a breach that could affect your freedoms or your rights, they have to inform you without undue delay. Likewise, they have to inform the ICO within 72 hours.
In general, the time limit for starting a personal data breach claim is six years. But, if your claim is to be made against a public body, then this falls to one year.
Our advisors can offer a free evaluation of your claim. Get in touch today to learn more.
Data Breach Payout – What Could You Receive?
You can may be able to seek a settlement for non-material damage when making your claim. This relates to the psychological injuries you sustained as a result of the data breach. For example, emotional distress, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Below, we have included a table containing compensation brackets for non-material damage. This information is from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which is a publication used by legal professionals to value personal data breach claims. Please note that the following figures are a guideline. Call our advisors today if you’re interested in receiving a more accurate compensation estimate.
| Injury | Compensation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric Injury (a) | £54,830 - £115,730 | Factors include struggling to go through life and future vulnerability from the psychological injuries that were sustained. |
| Psychiatric Injury (b) | £19,070 - £54,830 | The injured person’s prognosis is much more optimistic, though the symptoms are similar to the above. |
| Psychiatric Injury (c) | £5,860 - £19,070 | A good prognosis is present due to improving symptoms. |
| Psychiatric Injury (d) | £1,540 - £5,860 | Consideration is given to the length of time affected by symptoms and the effect on day-to-day life. |
| Severe PTSD (a) | £59,860 - £100,670 | All aspects of life are poorly affected, preventing the injured person from returning to work and managing life as they did before sustaining injuries. |
| Moderately Severe PTSD (b) | £23,150 - £59,860 | Professional medical help can improve the prognosis, though disabilities may persist. |
| Moderate PTSD (c) | £8,180 - £23,150 | A large recovery occurs, with some non-disabling effects continuing into the future. |
| Less Severe PTSD (d) | £3,950 - £8,180 | Most recoveries can be made within two years, though some minor symptoms may continue. |
Hospital Data Breach – What Else Could You Claim For?
Alongside non-material damage, you can also seek compensation for material damage, which includes the financial losses you’ve sustained due to the data breach. This may include any monetary losses from stolen funds or effects on your credit score, preventing you from making important purchases in the future.
In order to seek material damage, you must provide evidence that you sustained injury due to positive wrongful conduct on the part of the data controller or data processor.
If you need assistance with collecting evidence and starting the claims process, contact us today.
How To Report a Data Protection Breach
If you discover that you’ve been a victim of a hospital data breach, you should contact the organisation. You can ask how your data was breached and what information is at risk.
You can make a complaint to the ICO if you have not received a satisfactory response from the organisation within three months of contacting them. The ICO can investigate the breach, which may result in punitive measures being taken against the data controller. Please note that you cannot claim compensation through the ICO.
Our advisors can offer you free legal advice to support you in seeking a data breach payout. See below how our panel of solicitors could help you start your claim.
Why Make A No Win No Fee Hospital Data Breach Claim?
Our panel of solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis. This means that generally, you are not required to pay any upfront or ongoing fees. Should your claim then succeed, your solicitor will take a success fee. This is a legally-capped percentage of your compensation award.
However, if your claim does not go on to succeed, you will not be charged this fee.
See below how you can connect with our panel of No Win No Fee data breach solicitors.
Contact Us For Free To See If You Can Claim
Our advisors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to support you with any legal queries and help you start the claims process. If they find your claim to be valid, they may then connect you with a solicitor from our panel. To learn more:
- Call 020 8050 3051
- Message us through the live chat
- See the contact us page on our website
Learn More About Making A Data Breach Claim
See below for more resources:
You can also view more of our guides here:
- Social media data breach claims
- Social services data breach – Could I receive compensation?
- HR department data breach can I claim
Thank you for reading our hospital data breach guide. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Writer Jess Allen
Publisher Cat Harley