London -
An NHS trust has apologised after “human error” at a sexual health clinic revealed the identities of hundreds of HIV-positive patients.
The 56 Dean Street clinic in Soho, in London, is being investigated after sending a newsletter to about 780 patients on a group email, rather than to individuals.
This contained the names and email addresses of patients who had attended the HIV clinic in Dean Street, which is part of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
The clinic tried to recall the email after realising the error, and sent a follow-up apology email from Alan McOwan, the trust's director for sexual health, advising recipients to delete the email.
“Clearly this is completely unacceptable. We are urgently investigating how this has happened and I promise you that we will take steps to ensure it never happens again. We will send you the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
A spokesman for the clinic said it was not accurate to say every patient on the list was HIV positive.
Tom Hayes, the editor of beyondpositive, an online magazine for people affected by HIV, said it had been contacted by some of those on the list.
He said: “The breach lets 780 people know that the other people on the email list are living with HIV. This is a serious breach of data protection. There are several names I recognise from the list and, while I am of course being discreet, I am not sure I trust every other person on the list to do the same.”
The Information Commissioner's Office, which can levy fines of up to £500 000 for significant data breaches, said on Twitter that it was investigating the leak.
The National Aids Trust's chief executive, Deborah Gold, added that all HIV clinics should urgently review their processes to make sure this type of leak could not happen again.
The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warned that the health service could “lose the public's trust in our ability to look after their personal data securely” thanks to cases including the “completely unacceptable data breach at the Dean Street surgery”.
The Independent