Patient confidentiality breach: GP surgery sent private emails to the wrong patient
The GP surgery sent out private patient emails to the wrong person for a year, despite the patient telling them about the error.
A woman received texts, emails and even phone calls warning of missed hospital appointments meant for another patient for a year, despite repeatedly alerting the GP surgery.
Retired June Hughes, from Liverpool, contacted the practice 100 miles away in Coventry when she was first mistaken for a male patient with a major heart condition, but nothing was done.
Only after being contacted by the Sunday Express did Kenyon Medical Centres get in touch with June, 64.
She was finally told on Friday the practice intended to “correct the error and make the other patient aware of what has happened”.
Her experience is probably far from unique and at a time of record waiting lists, good administration is vital, experts say.
More than two million people may have missed out on medical appointments due to late delivery of letters in 2022 to 2023 alone.
Louise Ansari, chief executive of Healthwatch England, said: “Poor administration can undermine people’s confidence in health services, leaving them feeling disempowered in managing their care.
“We’ve heard from people who had hospital referrals lost or got an appointment letter and cancellation letter in the same envelope.”
Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, argued that it showed why people “should have easy access to and ownership of their health data”, adding: “Patients who identified errors in their medical records tell us they face difficulties getting them fixed.
“Healthcare professionals should be recording information accurately and when they are alerted to errors, corrections should be swift.”
June, who retired 14 years ago after a stroke, explained that when she contacted the surgery, “their reaction was ‘Oh, right. OK, we will look into this. Thank you for letting us know.’”
The ex-teaching assistant said: “That’s the response you get from them.”
But it did not end there and she eventually spoke to receptionists, a practice manager and a heart consultant.
She added: “I know [the intended recipient] has not been attending some appointments as I got the messages.
“I hope the poor chap is still well, that was my concern. But that’s it, his confidentiality is gone because I could trace what is wrong with him.”
Apologising, Dr Herpal Gill, GP partner at Kenyon Medical Centres, said an investigation is under way and “the patient involved has been informed and no harm to their medical care has occurred”.
She said: “This is now being investigated internally so that we can learn from it and prevent it from happening again.
“We can confirm that the patient involved has been informed and that no harm to their medical care has occurred.
“The error in the phone number has been corrected on their medical records.
“We apologise for any distress this has caused the parties involved.”
