56 Dean Street Option-E Data Breach Group Action Claims

---

IMPORTANT UPDATE: If you have been affected by the 56 Dean Street Clinic Breach but have yet to instruct us for a claim, please note that some deadlines have now passed to claim.

We may still be able to represent you for a case, but we advise that you speak to our team ASAP to see if we can still help you or not.

---

UPDATE 2: We are pleased to confirm that the solicitors acting for the NHS Trust involved have accepted liability for the cases we have launched.

Our priority now is to ensure our clients receive a fair compensation package for what has happened.

---

What has happened?

Almost 800 patients signed up to "Option-E" with the 56 Dean Street Clinic received an email sent to hundreds of patients where the names and email addresses of other recipients were visible for all to see. Unfortunately this meant that the identities of patient's signed up to the service were leaked to other patients, and perhaps beyond the recipient list as well.

We're already aware that the media has received copies of the email and that un-redacted version of the email has been forwarded beyond the list of recipients.

The Law

This is a very serious breach of the Data Protection Act. The confidential status of hundreds of patients has been inadvertently leaked.

Most of the clients we act for prefer to keep their status confidential, so to have this leaked to other people has caused serious distress to those affected. In our view, this is a clear breach of the Data Protection Act and we are extremely confident we will be able to obtain settlements for the clients we act for.

We would like to make sure that people are aware that the focus here is a systemic failure by the NHS to protect the identities of the patients affected, and we don't blame the individual who sent the email. In today's digital age we have access to technology and software that prevents this sort of thing from happening.

Unfortunately, this was not utilised - and given the nature of the email and the recipients on the list, the need for using such software was of paramount importance. The NHS, as the Data Controller, has the overall responsibility for protecting people's information, and on this occasion they grossly fell short of their important duties.

Our primary mission here is to ensure that the victims are fairly compensated for what they have been going through as a result of this very serious breach. The distress this has caused some people is indescribable.

The importance for the NHS to adhere to the Data Protection Act is huge, and we sincerely hope that our action also helps to ensure that such misuse of very private and personal information never happens again.

Can I claim compensation as a victim?

If you received the breach email, you should be eligible to make a claim for compensation.

We're already helping a large number of victims who have come forward for our help, and our Data Breach Team are making sure that any victims affected who wish to claim are well looked after.

We can offer a full Genuine No Win, No Fee arrangement so you pay nothing if the claim loses, although we are more than confident we will succeed in securing a payout for you if you received the breach email. We have a dedicated team acting specifically for the 56 Dean Street Breach victims so you will normally only have dealings with a small number of people.

We use market-leading software for managing cases that we can password protect to ensure that only the team helping victims have access to your file - just for your added piece of mind. We also have password systems for documents and for your telephone calls as well.

NOTE ON COURT PROCEEDINGS: although we don't think we will need to initiate court proceedings, given that the solicitors so far are not disputing cases, we can't rule it out. We have been obtaining consent from the NHS solicitors to ensure that any proceedings we bring are done confidentially, meaning that names and case information is kept confidential. So far the solicitors for the NHS have agreed to cooperate on this point.

Contacting our 56 Dean Street Team

You can contact our dedicated 56 Dean Street Team on 0800 634 75 75 or you can fill in a Contact Form below or email us at the following address: 56ds@groupactionlawyers.co.uk