Date: 20.12.2019
Responsible body: Doorstep Dispensaree Ltd
Nature of the data protection breach: Security of data of special categories not guaranteed
The head of the UK’s data protection watchdog has fined a London-based pharmacy a £275,000 data protection fine for failing to ensure the security of special category data.
Doorstep Dispensaree Ltd, which supplies medicines to customers and nursing homes, has left around 500,000 documents in unsealed containers at the back of its premises in Edgware. The documents contained names, addresses, dates of birth, health insurance numbers, medical information and prescriptions belonging to an unknown number of people.
The documents, some of which were not adequately protected against the weather and therefore suffered water damage, were created between June 2016 and June 2018. Failure to process the data in a manner that ensures appropriate security against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage is a breach of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) represent
The infringement was discovered after the health authority carried out a separate investigation of the pharmacy.
Categories of data: names, addresses, dates of birth, health insurance numbers, medical information, prescriptions
Country: Great Britain
Fines: 275,000 pounds
Source: European Data Protection Supervisor