I saw a private psychiatrist Dr Andrew Iles in June/July 2019 at The Priory Wellbeing Centre Oxford. He didn’t give any privacy documents or consent forms, but freely shared my medical records and other sensitive data with The Priory behind my back. Iles then rang myself and my partner and whilst Iles was sitting in with the Priory Oxford manager Pete Watt, stated aggressively down the phone that he had done 'nothing wrong' and told me I'd 'broken boundaries'!!! - simply as I'd complained about data breaches! This is on a recorded phonecall call. Clearly what he said then was not factual or correct.
Watt contacted me by email without permission to do so as I had not been given any consent forms by the Priory either. Upon discovering this I was in shock when I rang to query it got shouted at by the receptionist at the Priory Oxford, who then also shouted at my husband down the phone. He also said 'I believe I know who you are' when I called, which explains why he was so angry. Watt never replied to messages requesting data be deleted. Iles is now subject to a full GMC misconduct investigation for 8 counts of misconduct in his treatment of me. Although manager Lee Houghton was a bit arrogant throwing their CQC rating at me and not replying on time, The Priory Hospital (well, their solicitors) eventually totally fessed up, that The Priory Oxford were in the wrong, deleted my medical records and paid me compensation out of court for for data breaches plus reimbursement of legal expenses incurred. They also attributed the lack of consent forms for The Priory to an 'administrative error' on the part of the receptionist.
I had no idea Dr Andrew Iles had given my full medical records to The Priory Oxford without my consent. Houghton dropped this bombshell in an email and then didn't act very quickly in allaying my fears. Lee Houghton also never responded to several subject access requests and deleted the data before even telling me what they had in full.
Houghton and Iles also both told us to complain to The Priory about Iles. This seems to be an attempt to deflect any blame from Iles and Houghton appeared to be covering for him. I know this as their legal department were concerned she had told us to complain to her about Iles as the legal team totally washed their hands of Iles saying he basically merely rented a room there as a self-employed doctor who is responsible for his own complaints. It was clear then from their response that Houghton had lied to us. As a manager of the Priory, she would be well aware what the complaints policy regarding self-employed doctors really was.
GDPR, although seen by some as a minefield, has a few simple guidelines to follow and it appears some have flagrant disregard for patient confidentiality.
When my partner complained to Houghton about Watt, Houghton simply copied Watt in on email correspondence - further evidence they disregard any sort of confidentiality!
Pete Watt's message online is a bit of a joke given my experience of him. Note also that The Priory Oxford will not help with anxiety - they will simply be the cause of it!
Comments