A medical practice in the Leicester area

3. Miss A complains the Practice breached her confidentiality when it passed sensitive information onto third parties between May and November 2020. Miss A says she requested the Practice did not disclose this private information.

4. Miss A says this has caused her distress and flashbacks. Miss A would like financial compensation.

5. On 25 November 2020, the Practice sent a referral letter to Miss A regarding the removal of a mole, through private health insurance. The Practice had already sent the referral to the private health provider. Under ‘Patient summary’ on the referral letter there was sensitive information that Miss A requested remain confidential.

6. Miss A called the Practice to speak to the manager and received a call back from a deputy manager who was apologetic about the situation. The deputy manager advised they would remove the information and call back. Miss A did not receive a call until 30 November 2020. During that call, the Practice advised it had removed the information.

7. On 30 November 2020, Miss A wrote a letter of complaint to the Practice. She outlined her dismay for the way it handled the issue. On 7 December, the Practice sent Miss A a response regarding the concerns she raised. The letter advised Miss A that the Practice failed to remove information. The Practice explained the deputy manager had marked entries as private and removed information from the patient summary.

8. On 5 February 2021, the Practice wrote a final letter in response to some further correspondence. It apologised for some confusion regarding arranging a video meeting and the written resolution. The practice explained its complaint handling is within guidelines but apologised for how Miss A felt. The practice outlined the deputy manager’s actions regarding removing information, and the implementation of training.

11. Before we decide if we should investigate a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the event(s) complained about had a negative effect which the organisation has not put right. We have done this, and we have found the Practice has already done enough to put right the impact of these events.

12. Miss A complained to the Practice on the same day she received the referral letter from a third party. The referral letter provided a patient summary, which included confidential information. Miss A requested The Practice to remove this information prior to this incident. Miss A did not receive a call back from The Practice for two days. When the deputy manager from The Practice called back, they advised the removal of the information. Although this did not tackle the emotional stress felt by Miss A, the Practice took action to resolve the issue.

13. The Practice seemed to acknowledge it should not have shared the sensitive information during its handling of the complaint. This indicates a failing, and we have considered the impact of this on Miss A, as well as what the Practice has done so far to put that right.

14. Miss A is extremely upset due to the nature of the information the Practice shared. This stirred up emotions for Miss A when reading confidential information which she felt the Practice should not have shared. We are sorry to hear about the difficult experience Miss A had. We appreciate how much of an impact the events had on Miss A, especially as she had previously requested the Practice did not disclose the information.

15. Miss A responded to the Practice as she felt it did not take appropriate action in acknowledging her distress. The Practice’s final response provides an apology and service improvements, such as training for staff. It said, ‘Please once again accept our sincere apologies this has happened and for the significant distress, painful memories and flashbacks you have described.’

16. The response confirmed the Practice had removed the problem entry from the summary list in Miss A’s records to prevent that happening again. The Practice also said, ‘The Practice has raised this incident as a significant event and at various practice meetings and discussed the correct protocol regarding marking patient data as private to ensure this does not happen again.’

17. We have made an enquiry to the Practice to ask what evidence it has regarding the service improvements. The Practice has provided copies of guidance it has updated since the events and meeting minutes from when it has discussed the issue. This has reassured us it has taken relevant and proportionate steps to seek improvements.

18. Miss A would like a financial remedy to resolve her complaint. Looking at our scale for a financial remedy, we would not recommend a financial payment for the impact of a single incident, where there are no other adverse effects or ongoing wider impact. We consider Miss A’s complaint falls into this category and so is not something we would recommend a financial payment to put right.

19. Our principles for good complaint handling also have information about putting things right. They say: ‘Where a public body has failed to get it right and this has led to injustice or hardship, it should take steps to put things right. That means, if possible, returning complainants to the position they were in before this took place.’

20. The principles also say: ‘public bodies should ensure that all feedback and lessons learnt from complaints contribute to service improvement… Public bodies should ensure they: ‘Tell the complainant when lessons have been learnt as a result of their complaint and state any changes they have made to prevent the problem recurring.’

21. We understand the emotional impact these events would have had on Miss A. We have thought about that carefully and do not underestimate the effect on her. Having reviewed all the evidence in this case, we consider an apology to be an appropriate remedy in this case.

22. The Practice, therefore, seems to have put things right for Miss A in line with our principles for good complaint handling. It also seems to have sought continuous improvement in line with the same principles. Therefore, we will not consider this case further.

1. We have carefully considered Miss A’s complaint about a medical practice in the Leicester area (the Practice). After reviewing the complaint, we consider the Practice has already done enough to put right the impact of its mistake. We have decided not to consider this complaint further.

2. We are sorry to learn the reasons for Miss A’s complaint, and appreciate it must have been a difficult situation, especially managing the flashbacks and emotional stress this caused.