Rehabilitation Centres and Data Breach Claims – Compensation Calculator Guide
Are you thinking of making a data breach claim against a medical facility? Then this guide on rehabilitation centres and data breach claims may have the information you are looking for. Healthcare centres, such as rehabilitation centres have a responsibility to maintain the confidentiality and security of any personal information provided to them. The data they hold can be sensitive; inappropriately sharing this data or failing to properly secure it could see a rehabilitation centre found liable for the financial or mental harm a person suffers as a result. This is a guide to data breach claims against rehabilitation centres.
We’ll explain the laws around data protection, and the rules surrounding the sharing and use of your personal data. We’ll also explain what actions can be considered a data breach, and give you information on what you can do if you have suffered harm from one and are looking to make a claim for compensation.
Also included in this guide is a compensation calculator, that can help you estimate the compensation you could be awarded. We’ll explain how to use the calculator and go into detail about how data breach compensation works.
We also have advisers available to answer any questions you might have about data breach claims. They offer free legal advice and can discuss your situation with you. You can contact one now by:
- The live chat feature
- Phone on 0800 073 8804
- Using our contact page
Select A Section
- What Are Rehabilitation Centres and Data Breach Claims?
- Causes Of Data Breaches At Rehabilitation Centres
- Data Rehabilitation Centres May Hold
- How To Make A Data Breach Claim Against A Rehabilitation Centre
- Rehabilitation Centres And Data Breach Claims Calculator
- Begin Your Data Breach Claim Against A Rehabilitation Centre Today
What Are Rehabilitation Centres and Data Breach Claims?
Your personal information is any information that relates to you. This can be:
- Your identifying information (such as your name or your address)
- Information about you (such as your ethnic origin or medical records)
When organisations use or collect your personal information, they become data controllers and subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). They now have a responsibility to safeguard your personal data and make sure it is only used appropriately.
Any unlawful use, sharing of or loss of personal data can be considered a data breach. Some examples of this are:
- Someone working at a medical centre, unlawfully sharing your personal information without a valid reason (known as a lawful basis)
- An unauthorised person accessing or using your data because your data was poorly secured
A person affected by a breach (either financially or mentally), could be eligible to make a claim for compensation.
Causes Of Data Breaches At Rehabilitation Centres
Here we are going to look at example scenarios of how data breaches at rehabilitation centres could potentially happen. Some errors staff members might make include:
- Human error: Clerical mistakes can lead to personal information being shared with the wrong person (e.g. sending your information to the wrong email address). Maintaining the accuracy of information is a responsibility organisations have under the UK GDPR.
- Poor Confidentiality: Members of staff might not always be aware of, or follow the strict standards set out in data protection laws. Confidentiality applies to any and all personal information, no matter how harmless it may seem.
- Poor Data Security Practices: Poor data security practices such as weak passwords, using untrusted devices or using shared laptops to access personal data, can leave personal data at risk of being exposed.
It is a rehabilitation centre’s responsibility to safeguard your personal data. Data breaches can happen for many different reasons. Some are through cybercriminals hacking into online systems and other are due to human error. Data controllers can still be found liable for accidental actions that lead to data breaches.
If you suffered harm from a data breach at a rehabilitation centre, our advisers can offer you more information on what steps you can take.
Data Rehabilitation Centres May Hold
Rehabilitation centres are likely to hold data about a person’s:
Identifying Information: Such as a name, address or phone number
Health Information: Such as substance use or addiction. They can also hold medical records of illnesses related to substance use.
Personal History: Information you share with them in meetings.
If you suffered harm because any of your personal information was exposed in a breach, you could be eligible to make a claim. To have a valid claim it must be proven that the data controller failed to adhere to data protection laws, such as not keeping your information secure which led to the breach. Our advisers can offer you information on making data breach claims against rehabilitation centres.
Special Category Data:
Health data is considered to be special category data and so comes with more protections in the UK GDPR.
Special category data is information about a person’s
- racial or ethnic origin;
- political opinions;
- religious or philosophical beliefs;
- trade union membership;
- genetic data;
- biometric data (where used for identification purposes);
- Health data;
- Sex life;
- sexual orientation;
Organisations processing special category data have to take more care with protecting this type of information.
How To Make A Data Breach Claim Against A Rehabilitation Centre
If a centre failed to adequately protect your personal data, the first action you can take is to make a complaint to them. It is recommended by the Information Commissioner’s Office to make it a written complaint.
If you are unsatisfied with their response, you can report the data breach to the ICO. You should do this within three months of your last meaningful correspondence with the centre. If the ICO chooses to investigate the issue, they might provide you with a report that you could use as evidence in a claim against a rehabilitation centre.
A data breach solicitor can help you perform this process, and handle any correspondence with the medical facility on your behalf.
If possible, you can collect evidence that could support your claim. This can be
Financial Evidence: Proof of the losses you suffered because of the breach. This can be receipts, bank records or payslips (as proof of expected income).
Medical Evidence: A medical diagnosis of the mental harm, like stress, you suffered. A data breach solicitor can help arrange an independent medical assessment to produce a report for the claim.
Evidence Of The Breach: Any evidence you have supporting the inappropriate use of your data. This can even come in the form of correspondence you have with the medical centre, where they acknowledge the data breach.
Our advisers can offer you more information on useful evidence in data breach claims against rehabilitation centres.
Rehabilitation Centres And Data Breach Claims Calculator
As mentioned, we have a compensation calculator that you can use to generate an estimate for the compensation you could seek.
The compensation calculator may only provide answers to one part of the claim and that is non-matreial damages for the psychological injury you suffered. However, you can also claim material damage in successful data breach cases.
The figures in our table below come from the 2022 edition of the Judicial College Guidelines, which uses previous court settlements to generate compensation brackets.
Below is a table featuring figures for mental harm listed in the JCG:
| Injury | Notes | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Psychiatric Damage | Severe psychiatric effects to a person’s ability to handle life | £54,830 to £115,730 |
| Moderately Severe Psychiatric Damage | Similar effects as above but with a better chance of recovery | £19,070 to £54,830 |
| Moderate Psychiatric Damage | Good recovery shown by the claimant in regards to the psychiatric injury | £5,860 to £19,070 |
| Less Severe Psychiatric Damage | Psychiatric damage affecting a claimant’s ability to perform daily tasks for a shorter period of time | £1,540 to £5,860 |
| Severe PTSD | A case of severe PTSD that leaves the claimant unable to work | £59,860 to £100,670 |
| Moderately Severe PTSD | Similar injuries to above but the claimant is showing signs of improving with professional help | £23,150 to £59,860 |
| Moderate PTSD | Claimant will have mostly recovered | £8,180 to £23,150 |
| Less Severe PTSD | Claimant will have mostly recovered within one to two years | £3,950 to £8,180 |
This type of compensation is known as non-material damages. You can seek non-material damages compensation on its own without having to seek out compensation for financial harm. This comes following the ruling in the Court of Appeal case, Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc 2015.
If you did suffer financial harm, you can seek out compensation known as material damages.
This can include:
- Loss of income if you were unable to work
- Costs towards treatment you could not get from the NHS
- Money stolen from you, if your information was used in such a way.
A data breach solicitor can offer you more information on compensation in data breach claims. If you suffered harm from a data breach, reach out to an adviser now, to see if you could speak with a data breach solicitor.
Begin Your Data Breach Claims Against A Rehabilitation Centre Today
Data breach solicitors can handle your claim on a No Win No Fee basis. These are conditional fee agreements where your solicitor would not charge you an upfront fee to hire their services. They would not charge you ongoing fees either.
if your claim was successful and you were awarded compensation, their fee would come as a legally capped percentage of the awarded compensation; a success fee. If your claim was not successful, there would be no success fee to pay.
Our solicitors offer No Win No Fee agreements for data breach claims and could represent you in yours. To possibly speak with one, please reach out to an adviser.
An advisor can value your claim, and if they find merit, potentially put you through to a solicitor to help you formally begin your claim. The help a solicitor can offer in a data breach claim can be invaluable.
Why not reach out to an adviser now by
- The live chat feature
- Phone on 0800 073 8804
- Our contact page
Healthcare Data Breach Claim Resources
We’ve included some other links you might find useful such as:
ICO: The ICO’s guide to making a data protection complaint against a company
ICO: The ICO’s guide to claiming compensation against a company
Thank you for reading our guide on data breach claims against rehabilitation centres. We also offer guides on other topics such as:
Making A Claim Against A Hospital For Medical Negligence
Making A Claim Against The Post Office For A Data Breach
A Guide Explaining How Sharing An Email Address Can Be A Data Breach
Please get in touch with our advisers for any more help you might need.
