NHS Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide

By Jo Greenwood. Last Updated 7th October 2024. Welcome to our guide looking at what could be an NHS data breach. In this article, we’re going to look at data breach compensation UK and data breach compensation examples including those for NHS staff data breaches.

You’ve no doubt heard about the General Data Protection Regulation, referred to by its acronym GDPR. It was a new law established in 2018 by the European Union. The Data Protection Act 2018 enacted it into law in this country. The purpose of the new law is to give you more control over your personal data and when organisations can hold it.

Legal Expert can support you through a data breach claim. We start by providing a non-obligatory telephone assessment of the claim you’re thinking of making. The advisor will give you free legal advice and could connect you with a specialist solicitor from our panel if your claim has the potential to succeed. Importantly, if your claim is accepted, your solicitor will provide their services on a No Win No Fee basis.

To start a data breach compensation claim right away, please call us on 0800 0703 8804 today. Alternatively, please read on to find out how you may be able to claim against the NHS for a data breach with evidence before calling our specialist advisors.

Select A Section

1. Can I Claim Compensation For An NHS Data Breach?
2. How Can The NHS Breach Data Protection Laws?
3. Have Any NHS Organisations Been Fined By The ICO?
4. Compensation Payouts In Data Breach Claims
5. NHS Data Breach Compensation Claims And No Win No Fee Solicitors
6. Call Our Team To Claim For An NHS Data Breach
7. Extra Resources On Claiming NHS Data Breach Compensation

Can I Claim Compensation For An NHS Data Breach?

When discussing claiming compensation for an NHS data breach, there are 3 parties that need to be considered. These are:

• Data subjects: the living identifiable individuals to whom the personal data relates.
• Data controllers: organisations that decide when, how and why your personal data is to be processed in any way, such as handling it or storing it. For the purposes of our guide, the data controller is the NHS.
• Data processors: external organisations that are contracted by data controllers to provide processing services. We should point out that not every data controller will make use of an external processor.

Under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act, data controllers and processors both have obligations to keep your personal information safe. Failure to uphold these standards can result in personal data breaches.

The eligibility criteria to begin an NHS data breach compensation claim are as follows:

1. The data controller or processor failed to uphold their legal duties under data protection law.
2. These failures resulted in a personal data breach in which your personal information was affected.
3. You experienced psychological distress, financial harm or both as a result of this.

To find out more about making a data breach claim against the NHS, or for a free assessment of your eligibility, get in touch with our advisors today.

How Long Do I Have To Claim Compensation For An NHS Data Breach?

Your name, date of birth and details of any medical conditions you may have could be collected and stored by the NHS. Data breach compensation claims could be made when the organisation processing this data fails to protect it. However, the claims process must be started within the time limit. 

This is generally six years from the date you were notified of the incident for a medical data breach. However, if the claim is made against a public body, this is reduced to one year. 

Should an NHS data breach compromise your personal data, you may want to know about your potential options. Get in touch with one of our advisors to discuss your possible next steps.

Will Making An NHS Data Breach Compensation Claim Impact The Healthcare Service?

Some people may worry that in making a claim against the NHS it will impact frontline healthcare services. However, this isn’t the case. Organisations such as the NHS are prepared for these potential incidents and have cover in place to meet the costs. So if you decide to make a data breach claim, this is something you don’t need to worry about.

An advisor could help answer your questions about NHS data breach compensation.

How Can The NHS Breach Data Protection Laws?

While the GDPR regulations are relatively new, staff should be fully trained on when and why they can share your personal data with others. As explained earlier, your personal information cannot be shared without your prior agreement. If it is, you could be entitled to seek compensation because of an NHS data breach.

Examples of how the NHS could breach data rules include:

• Sharing your medical records with unapproved organisations.
• Leaving printed documents containing your data lying around.
• Staff accessing your records when there was no professional reason to do so.
• Where your personal information was emailed or posted to the wrong patient.
• Staff leaving computer screens unlocked allowing your data to be seen.
• Cybersecurity breaches such as computer viruses, malware or ransomware.

It is possible that you, or the NHS, will never find out about a data breach involving your data but if they become aware of it, they should contact you to let you know how it happened and what data was accessed.

If you have reason to believe you’ve been affected by an NHS privacy violation, please let us know and we’ll provide a free assessment of your claim to see how much compensation you could be entitled to.

Do I Need Evidence To Claim Compensation For An NHS Data Breach?

Yes, you need evidence to claim for an NHS data breach. When you make any kind of claim, it’s your responsibility to prove that it was caused by wrongful conduct and that you suffered harm as a result.

For example, you could use evidence such as:

• A letter of notification from the NHS, stating that a breach had occurred and affected your data
• Reports from a counsellor or psychiatrist illustrating the NHS data breach consequences on your mental health
• Bank statements or other financial records that show the financial effects that the breach has had on you
• Complaints made to the ICO, or the results of an ICO investigation into the breach

We understand that this can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. If you choose to claim NHS data breach compensation with a No Win No Fee solicitor, they can help you support your case with evidence. Get in touch with our team today to learn more.

Have Any NHS Organisations Been Fined By The ICO?

In this section of our guide, we’re going to provide some examples of data security breaches that have made it into the news.

In the first example, an NHS Trust was fined £180,000 because the 56 Dean Street Clinic in London sent an email to nearly 800 patients in 2015 who had attended HIV clinics. However, the clinic failed to send the email correctly which meant each recipient could see the name and email address of the other recipients.

The Information Commissioner stated that the mistake was a “serious breach of the law”. The problem was made worse because even though the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust made a statement to explain that not all recipients were HIV positive, many recipients were fearful that they would be recognised because the Trust covers such a small geographical area. The investigation went on to reveal that the same Trust had made the same type of error in 2010.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36247186

In another case, staff at Ipswich Hospital were disciplined after accessing the medical records of Ed Sheeran with no clinical reason to do so. While the full details of the case haven’t been revealed, the BBC obtained information after submitting a Freedom of Information request that two members of staff had accessed his medical information after he broke his arm in a cycling accident in 2018. One member of medical staff received a written warning for their actions while a member of admin staff was dismissed.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-4415578

Compensation Payouts In Data Breach Claims

If you were to make a successful claim should an NHS data protection breach occur and involve your personal data, you may be curious as to what you could claim for. There are two heads of loss that could be included in a successful personal data breach claim.

Firstly, if you have suffered material damage, such as stolen funds taken from your account, fraudulent purchases made in your name or a loss of earnings due to taking time away from work after suffering a subsequent mental injury, you could be compensated for this.

Secondly, if you have suffered non-material damage such as depression, stress or anxiety, this too can be compensated. We’ve included a table using figures from the 17^th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) below. The JCG provides guideline amount brackets for different psychological injuries. We’ve also provided a figure in the top row to show you how you could be awarded compensation for both types of damage in the same claim. This figure was not taken from the JCG.

To find out if you could make a claim following an NHS data breach, call our advisors today for a free case assessment.

NHS Data Breach Compensation Claims And No Win No Fee Solicitors

Claiming compensation for a breach of confidentiality is not without its hurdles. The burden of proof is on you, the claimant, to prove that you’ve suffered harm due to the exposure of your personal data. This is why people often turn to data breach solicitors to assist them. The good news is, you don’t have to pay upfront fees to obtain assistance from a data breach solicitor.

Under a Conditional Fee Agreement, a data breach solicitor could work on your claim without taking any payment unless your claim ends successfully, and your medical data breach compensation comes through. These are what are often called No Win No Fee claims. Should your claim not end with a compensation payout, your solicitor would not take a fee from you. You would not have to cover their costs in pursuing your claim either.

The success fee they would deduct from your compensation payout is legally capped, and cannot exceed this amount. This means you would always receive the majority of the payout.

We could help assess whether you could make a No Win No Fee claim with one of our data breach solicitors. Why not get in touch to find out more?

Call Our Team To Claim For An NHS Data Breach

If you’ve decided you’d like to proceed and would like the support of Legal Expert, here are the best ways to get in touch:

• Call our specialist advisors to discuss your claim for free on 0800 073 8804
• Email us with information about the data breach to info@legalexpert.co.uk.
• Start an online claim and we’ll arrange to call you back.
• Ask an online advisor for claims advice using our online chat system.

Please remember, we’ll provide free advice on your options even if you don’t go on to begin a claim.

Extra Resources On Claiming NHS Data Breach Compensation

In this final section of our article on what is an NHS data breach, we’ve linked to some additional guides and resources that you might find helpful.

• NHS Claim Time Limits – Information on how long you have to sue the NHS for suffering caused by medical negligence.
• Legal Expert Reviews – Read feedback from some of our previous clients.
• Professional Negligence Claims – Advice on claiming compensation from a professional organisation because of negligent advice.
• The General Data Protection Regulation – The full 88-page document detailing the GDPR legislation.
• NHS Complaints Procedure – The official route to complaining about NHS services.
• ICO Action – Recent information on legal action taken by the ICO.

At Legal Expert, we can also offer advice and support for a wide range of personal injury claims, including claims for different types of medical negligence. You can check out the following examples below:

• Misdiagnosis Claims – Read about how you may be able to claim if you are harmed by a medical misdiagnosis.
• Hospital Negligence Claims – This guide looks at your potential legal options if you are harmed at a hospital due to negligent behaviour.
• Dental Negligence Claims – In this guide, we explain how you could claim if you are affected by dental negligence.
• Birth Injury Claims – This guide discusses how compensation may be possible if a mother and/or child are affected by birth injuries.
• Data Breach Compensation Claims
• Can I Claim After A GP Data Breach?
• My Personal Data Has Been Lost After A Breach, What Are My Rights?
• North Tyneside Council Data Breach
• Can I Claim Compensation for Loss of Medical Records?
• School Data Breach Compensation Claims
• Failure To Use Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) On Email – Can I Make A Data Breach Claim?
• Employer Personal Data Breach Compensation Claims
• GP Data Breach Compensation Claims

Thank you for reading our guide which covers claiming for an NHS staff data breach, NHS data breach compensation UK and data breach compensation examples. If you have any further questions about claiming for an NHS data breach, contact us at a time that suits you.