Treatment centres is an umbrella term for many different types of medical clinics. A treatment centre can be a rehabilitation centre or it can be a place outpatients are treated. Treatment centres offer medical services to those that need them for a range of illnesses and conditions.
Treatment centres data breach claims guide
To be able to assist those that they treat they will need to collect a lot of personal and medical information. Both are protected by data security laws in this country. It is important that treatment centres maintain patient-doctor confidentiality and any personal or special category data they process must always be secure.
A treatment centre data breach can affect a patient, employee, or key stakeholder. If a treatment centre failed to correctly keep this data safe, leading to a breach of your data, you might be eligible to make a medical data breach claim. To see if you can claim compensation, please contact us today. And we can assign a data breach solicitor to work on your claim if we can see that you are owed compensation.
Call us on 0800 073 8804 to speak to an advisor, who will be happy to answer your questions. Alternatively, contact us via our website to see if you can start your claim today.
Select A Section
- What Is A Treatment Centre Data Breach?
- Causes Of Data Breaches At Treatment Centres
- Data Treatment Centres May Hold On You
- What Should You Do After A Treatment Centre Data Breach?
- Data Breach Claim Calculator
- Begin A Claim For A Treatment Centre Data Breach Today
What Is A Treatment Centre Data Breach?
A personal data breach is a security incident that compromises personal data protection at an organisation. Security incidents that cause data breaches include the following mishaps:
- Loss of data
- Theft of data
- Unlawful disclosure of data
- Encryption, alteration or destruction of data
- Unauthorised persons accessing the data
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, organisations (data controllers) have to protect the personal data they process about you (the data subject).
To hold a valid claim for a treatment centre data breach the following must be true:
- The data controller failed to correctly follow data security regulations. For example, breached the UK GDPR which led to a personal data breach involving your identifiable or sentive information.
- Subsequently, you experienced emotional distress and mental health problems because of the data breach.
- Or you lost money or assets because of the medical data breach.
Don’t hesitate to contact us to inquire about making a treatment centre or GP data breach claim.
Causes Of Data Breaches At Treatment Centres
Many data breaches happen because of human error. To avoid human error data breaches training staff on their roles and responsibilities when it comes to data awareness is vital. Employees should be trained on how to effectively implement the 7 Core Principles of the UK GDPR which ensure data is processed correctly. And employers can encourage an open environment where employees feel free to ask questions.
On the other hand, data breaches can happen through cyber criminals gaining access to online folders and databases that contain personal data. Data controllers need to ensure that any data they handle in digital files are protected by encrypted passwords and cybersecurity defences.
The following mishaps could cause a healthcare data breach:
- A treatment centre sends a mass email to patients. However, the centre fails to use Bcc on the email. Therefore sharing the email addresses.
- Hackers target a treatment centre to steal the patient database. Subsequently, the hackers gain access because of poor cyber security defences.
- A receptionist leaves patient records on a public-facing reception desk. Therefore other patients can view the patient’s private information.
- A computer is stolen from a treatment centre. The computer was not password protected.
Data Treatment Centres May Hold On You
Treatment centres may hold personal data which signifies who you are, such as:
- Name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Email address
- Phone number
- Bank account
- Debit card
- Credit card
- Username and password to an online account
The treatment centre may hold sensitive medical information about you, including your medical records and information about medication that a doctor prescribed. Healthcare data is considered special category data under the UK GDPR because it is sensitive. Therefore healthcare data has additional protections.
What Should You Do After A Treatment Centre Data Breach?
To make a claim following a treatment centre data breach, please contact Legal Expert today. We can offer you free legal advice about claiming. And we can assign a solicitor to work on your case if we can see that a healthcare provider owes you compensation.
Moreover, you can collect supporting evidence to strengthen your claim. The evidence can include your data breach notification, medical records to show that the data breach psychologically injured you, and bank statements to show any financial losses incurred.
How To Report A Treatment Centre Data Breach
If a data controller experiences a data breach that affects your right and freedoms they must report the data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours from when it is discovered. They should notify you of the data breach without undue delay. If you believe the organisation that breached your personal data is not taking the incident seriously enough, you can make a data protection complaint to the ICO.
Data Breach Claim Calculator
If you win your treatment centre data breach claim, you can receive up to two different types of damages. Firstly, you may be entitled to receive material damages compensation for any financial losses the data breach caused. For example, criminals may have used your stolen personal information to target you for fraud. Therefore you could have lost money or assets as a result.
Secondly, you can claim non-material damages compensation if the data breach caused emotional distress. If you experienced a particularly traumatic data breach, you might have developed psychological injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Therefore your non-material damages payout will include compensation for mental health injuries.
You can use the table to predict how much non-material damages data breach compensation you could claim. We used updated compensation guidelines and information from the Judicial College to create this table.
| Type Of Mental Health Injury | Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric Damage – Severe (a) | £54,830 to £115,730 | A claimant who has (severe) problems with coping with aspects of life such as work, relationships and/ or education. Damages could take account of how successful treatment may be. |
| Psychiatric Damage – Moderately Severe (b) | £19,070 to £54,830 | A claimant who whilst similarly affected to the person above, does have a better outlook for the future. |
| Psychiatric Damage – Moderate (c) | £5,860 to £19,070 | Overall, this person has a much better prognosis. |
| Psychiatric Damage – Less Severe (d) | £1,540 to £5,860 | A claimant who has been impacted to a lesser degree. Damages look at how this person suffered and how long the effects lasted for. |
| PTSD – Severe (a) | £59,860 to £100,670 | A claimant who has been diagnosed with a reactive psychiatric disorder caused by a trauma. The disorder may have impacted all parts of their life. |
| PTSD – Moderately Severe (b) | £23,150 to £59,860 | Whilst diagnosed with PTSD, this person does have a more optimistic prognosis for recovery in the future. |
| PTSD – Moderate (c) | £8,180 to £23,150 | If any when a claim does come to trial, the claimant should already have made a good degree of recovery. |
| PTSD – Less Severe (d) | £3,950 to £8,180 | Between 1 and 2 years this person should have made a full recovery. |
We have used the latest guidelines 2022 from the Judicial College. However, your solicitors will consider other factors when they value your claim. So, the amount of compensation you receive may differ from the table’s contents. For a personalised compensation quote, please call us today.
Begin A Claim For A Treatment Centre Data Breach Today
If you would like to claim compensation for a data breach by a treatment centre, please contact us today. We can appoint an experienced data protection solicitor to handle your data breach compensation claim if you are eligible to claim.
All our solicitors operate on a No Win No Fee basis. You won’t pay your solicitor upfront. You will fund your solicitor by paying a success fee if you win your claim.
If you win your claim, the fee is paid out from your data breach compensation payout. Furthermore, you will only pay a success fee if you win your compensation claim. So, you are not risking having to pay solicitor’s fees, even if you don’t win your claim.
To see if you can make a data breach claim against the NHS or a private healthcare provider, please contact us today:
- Call our advice line on 0800 073 8804
- Or you can use our Live Support widget to ask us a question
- Finally, please fill out our online claims form to begin the process
Resources On Health Records Data Breaches
To learn more about making a medical data breach claim, please look at these online resources.
Dentist Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide
Medical Records Data Breach – How To Claim Compensation
Transform Hospital Group Data Breach – Who Can Claim Compensation?
NHS England’s data protection policy
Personal data breaches – an ICO guide
An NHS guide to mental health conditions
We hope this guide has helped you if you are considering making a claim after a treatment centre data breach.
Guide By Chelache
Edited By Melissa.
