3. Mr P complains Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) shared personal and medical information with Derby County Council (the council) within a letter dated 6 March 2023.
4. Mr P does not believe the Trust should have done this.
5. Mr P says this caused him embarrassment, distress and upset.
6. Mr P is looking for an apology and a financial remedy, so he is able to proceed with private treatment.
7. Derby County Council sent a referral to the Trust for Mr P to access its community mental health team (CMHT) and talking therapies.
8. On 6 March 2023, the Trust wrote to the council refusing this referral and explaining its reasons for this decision.
11. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. We have done this and have not found any indications that something has gone wrong.
12. Mr P has raised concerns the Trust incorrectly provided the council with personal and medical information. He says this information should not have been provided and has caused him stress, embarrassment and upset.
13. We are sorry to hear about this and understand it must have been a shock to see this information being provided to another organisation without his knowledge.
14. Within the Trust’s response, dated 12 July 2023 it says the letter, ‘contained details from your recent and historic records to provide a clear rationale for the team declining the referral. It was felt necessary by the team to share this information.’ It also says that the information was provided in line with Trust’s code of conduct and it had made no breach of information.
15. IN the letter the Trust sent to the council on 6 March 2023 it explained its reasons for refusing the referral and gave information about Mr P’s past diagnosis, referrals and information on any therapy he has already accessed through the Trust to support its reasoning.
16. The Trust’s DPA policy’s principles include, ‘Use confidential information only when absolutely necessary; Use the minimum necessary confidential information.’
17. The Trust’s code of conduct policy says, ‘We are performing a task carried out in the public interest, with the official authority of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. This allows us to process patient information without relying on Consent providing it is for direct health or social care.’
18. We consider the Trust has acted in line with both above policies. We consider the information provided was appropriate and was necessary for the Trust to explain the reason for declining the referral. We also consider the information was provided for health reasons and therefore can be provided without Mr P’s consent.
19. We therefore consider there has been no indication anything went wrong here.
20. We recognise this may not be the answer Mr P is hoping for. We hope he is reassured the information provided by the Trust was appropriate and required. We thank him for bringing his complaint to us.
1. We have carefully considered Mr P’s complaint about Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We have seen no indication that anything went seriously wrong.
2. Mr P has raised concerns the Trust has inappropriately shared his personal and medical information to the council without his consent. We are very sorry to hear this and understand how upsetting this would have been for Mr P. We have seen no evidence the Trust provided this information incorrectly or inappropriately. We hope this offers some reassurance to Mr P.