TEWV in data breach after email addresses shared

The Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Trust was investigated by the Information Comissioner (ICO) after a blunder meant hundreds of people who received one of its newsletters could all see each other’s email addresses.

Anyone can sign up for TEWV’s monthly ‘member newsletter’. Its latest version was shared on May 8 and wrongly had the email addresses of all recipients on show, including those of patients, relatives and staff.

No other information such as patient data was involved and no further action taken by the ICO.

A TEWV spokesperson said: “We are sincerely sorry for any distress caused.

“The data breach related to Trust member email addresses appearing within a newsletter distribution list and it was a genuine error. No other personal details were shared.

“We take these matters very seriously and have notified everyone who was affected, reported it to the ICO, and put measures in place to prevent this happening again."

TEWV's latest member newsletter sent out on May 8. (Image: TEWV) In an email alerting those whose email addresses were leaked in the data breach the Trust said: “We are now looking at automating this process to avoid this error occurring again and will ensure we learn from this experience.”

It also urged recipients to delete the initial email.

The ICO confirmed it investigated but decided no further action should be taken against TEWV.

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A spokesperson added: “Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust reported an incident to us. After carefully assessing the information contained in the breach report we provided data protection advice and closed the case with no further action”.

It comes amid an ongoing spell of heightened scrutiny for TEWV as it faces calls for a public inquiry after the deaths of several patients.

The Health Secretary is understood to still be milling over how to proceed having heard what he described as a “strong case” for an inquiry from grieving relatives in February. A decision was initially expected by the end of March.