Would you like to know more about what you could do following the Transform Hospital Group data breach? This guide will explain the steps you could take and how organisations should protect your personal data. We also outline what makes a valid data breach claim.
A guide on steps you could take after a Transform Hospital Group data breach
Hospitals hold sensitive personal information, and a data breach can cause unsettling feelings, knowing that personal data is no longer safe. It can affect your wellbeing, resulting in problems to your mental health and subsequently negatively impacting your quality of life and interpersonal relationships.
A data breach could also cause you to suffer financial loss—if your bank details are accessed, for example or if you had costs associated with the data breach.
Our advisors are available 24/7 to provide free legal advice and can help answer any questions if you have proof of a valid claim. They may pass you to our No Win No Free solicitors, so get in touch with our advisors today by:
- Calling us on 0800 073 8801
- Emailing office@accidentclaims.co.uk
- Contacting us for a free call back
- Using our live chat feature
Select A Section
- What Was The Transform Hospital Group Data Breach?
- What Medical Data Was Affected By The Transform Hospital Group Data Breach?
- How Hospitals Could Protect Your Personal Data
- What To Do If Affected By The Transform Hospital Group Data Breach
- Transform Hospital Group Data Breach Compensation Calculator
- Get Help With Your Hospital Data Breach Claim
What Was The Transform Hospital Group Data Breach?
Transform Hospital Group manages and owns two hospitals. It also operates a nationwide network of clinics and hospitals.
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) outlines the definition of a personal data breach. It’s a security incident that leads to the altering of, losing, destroying, disclosing, transmitting, or gaining unauthorised access to personal data without a lawful reason.
In December 2020, Transform Hospital Group suffered a data breach. They were subject to a ransomware attack, whereby the hackers claimed to have obtained 900 gigabytes worth of patient photographs as well as some personal information. (Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55439190)
The UK GDPR states that personal data is any information that can identify you as an individual, either directly or indirectly. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) outlines a list of examples, which includes:
- Name
- Email address
- Home address
- Any other identification numbers, i.e. national insurance number or NHS number
If your personal data was involved in the Transformation Hospital Group data breach, and you suffered as a consequence, our advisors could help today.
How Did The Data Breach Happen?
The Transformation Hospital Group data breach was a deliberate data breach by a group calling themselves REvil. They threatened to post the stolen data if their conditions were not met.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) states that ransomware is a type of malware that prevents access to personal data. The computer or files can be locked, stolen, deleted or encrypted, and, usually, the criminals will anonymously contact the appropriate party about what to do next. Generally, the data will be released back to the authority upon specified payment.
The NCSC and law enforcement agencies do not encourage ransomware payment as it endorses hackers to continue their cyberattacks. Furthermore, if ransomware is paid:
- It does not guarantee computer or data access
- The computer is still infected
- It will reward the criminals
- You could increase the likeliness of becoming a target
Medical Data Breach Statistics
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent body that enforces data protection legislation. In the ICO’s latest data security trends for Q3 2021/22, there were 2,404 incidents with 1,733 non-cyber and 631 cyber breaches reported. The health sector reported the most with 467 incidents overall.
The most common non-cyber incidents in the health sector were:
- Other non-cyber incidents – 85
- Unauthorised access – 96
- Data emailed to incorrect recipient – 68
Alternatively, the most common cyber incidents were:
- Ransomware – 15
- Hardware/software misconfiguration – 13
- Phishing – 11
What Medical Data Was Affected By The Transform Hospital Group Data Breach?
The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) defines medical or health data as information relating to the physical or mental health of a patient that could reveal their health status. Health data is included under special category data, or sensitive personal information, which needs more protection. Special category data can include:
- Race or ethnicity
- Political affiliations
- Philosophical or religious beliefs
- Membership in a trade union
- Genetic data
- Biometric identification data
- Health data
- Sexual activity and orientation
In the Transformation Hospital Group data breach, criminals stole patient photographs and other personal health data, including surgery details. For many patients, the treatments and surgeries undertaken were very personal.
If you have proof of being affected by a Transform Hospital Group data breach, you could contact our advisors. They could help you by providing free legal advice and could potentially pass you on to our expert solicitors.
How Hospitals Could Protect Your Personal Data
Data breaches can be a deliberate action, such as the REvil hacking, or unintentional due to human error. To ensure data breaches don’t happen, all data controllers and processors should operate according to the UK GDPR and the DPA by securing the personal data they have collected. The UK GDPR’s 7 principles are at the core of data protection legislation, which are:
- Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
- Purpose limitation
- Data minimisation
- Accuracy
- Storage limitation
- Integrity and confidentiality (security)
- Accountability
If an organisation fails to follow these principles, it can impact the likelihood of a data breach. In cases of human error, a hospital could protect personal data by improving upon or changing the culture of the workplace by introducing:
- Mandatory training
- Sufficient supervision
- Updating policies and work cultures around data protection
- Investigating root causes of incidents
- Implementing a culture of trust
- Restricting access
- Auditing
Contact our advisors today if you’ve suffered following a data breach due to other healthcare organisations, such as private healthcare providers and GP surgeries.
What To Do If Affected By The Transform Hospital Group Data Breach
We urge you to get in touch with our advisors if you have proof you were subject to a data breach and suffered financially or mentally as a consequence. If you have grounds for a claim, they can forward your case to our expert solicitors.
Additionally, the ICO is a body that helps to enforce data protection. They have a robust complaint system where a victim of a potential data breach can complain, and the ICO could launch an investigation to determine whether a data breach has taken place.
The ICO can administer a monetary penalty to the data controller or processor, depending on who is liable for the breach. However, it is important to note this penalty does not contribute to any compensation sought in a data breach claim. You’d have to make your own successful claim to be awarded compensation. A solicitor could help you with this.
Transform Hospital Group Data Breach Compensation Calculator
When claiming for a data breach, there are two types of compensation you could be eligible for, which are:
- Material damages – This relates to compensation for financial harm caused by the personal data breach. For example, you may have accrued costs because of the data breach.
- Non-material damages – The mental fallout of a data breach claim; for example, developing stress, anxiety, depression, paranoia or another psychological injury.
The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), outline possible brackets for compensation for various injuries, including psychological. The amount awarded depends on the severity and type of injury. We’ve taken figures from this publication and used them in the compensation table below. However, it’s important to note that compensation is calculated on a case-by-case basis, so it’s advisable for you to seek legal advice about what you could claim.
| Injury | Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Severe general psychological damage (a) | £54,830 to £115,730 | Considerable coping problems with education, work, life and relationships. The award amount is affected by prognosis, vulnerability, treatment, necessary medical help and a relevant abuse of trust. |
| Moderately severe general psychological damage (b) | £19,070 to £54,830 | Optimistic prognosis with the same shared factors as the severe bracket noted above. |
| Moderate general psychological damage (c) | £5,860 to £19,070 | There are improvements in the overall prognosis. |
| Less severe general psychological damage (d) | £1,540 to £5,860 | The amount awarded will differ according to the effects of both sleeping and activity as well as the disability period. |
| Severe PTSD (a) | £59,860 to £100,670 | Permanent effects prevent ability to work beyond, or to, the pre-trauma level. It negatively impacts all parts of the individual’s life. |
| Moderately severe PTSD (b) | £23,150 to £59,860 | Professional help improves prognosis, but higher likeliness for future disability. |
| Moderate PTSD (c) | £8,180 to £23,150 | Injuries are majorly recovered and long-term lasting effects are not majorly disabling. |
| Less severe PTSD (d) | £3,950 to £8,180 | A one to two-year virtual recovery with minor long-term symptoms. |
In 2015, the Vidal-Hall v Google case changed how compensation is awarded in data breach cases. If the damage suffered is purely non-material, you do not have to prove material damage. Before this case, you could only claim for mental harm if you’d also suffered financial loss. Now, you can claim for both damages or either.
Contact our advisors to find out about the data breach compensation claiming process today.
Get Help With Your Hospital Data Breach Claim
If you can provide proof that you have suffered because of a data breach, then our advisors can offer some free legal advice and may be able to pass you to our No Win No Fee solicitors.
Our solicitors offer Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA), a type of No Win No Fee arrangement that comes with many upsides. For example, hiring a CFA lawyer costs nothing, and you pay none of their legal fees if your claim is not successful. They will only take a small, legally-capped percentage of your compensation as their success fee to cover their work if your claim succeeds.
Contact our advisors to learn more by:
- Calling us on 0800 073 8801
- Emailing office@accidentclaims.co.uk
- Contacting us for a free call back
- Using our live chat feature
Medical Data Breach Resources
Please see our other helpful articles:
What Are My Rights After A Nursery Data Breach?
My Rights After An NHS Data Breach?
What Are My Rights After A Dentist Data Breach?
Or, read the other external informative links provided:
Actions we’ve taken as the ICO
For any more information about what you could do after the Transform Hospital Group data breach, our advisors could help. They are available 24/7 to provide further information and answer any of your questions.
Guide by JE
Edited by RV