Terrible Hospital admin

Hi

As parents we are very protective of our children, especially when they have health issues so I totally understand your concerns and also your anger but my first question is why would your neighbour open your letter? While it had the wrong house number on the envelope, presumably was still addressed to you? Therefore your neighbour was wrong to open it. The very least they should have done was to have handed it to you personally and apologised for opening it in error.

I think complaining to the hospital will only flag up their error in using the wrong house number and you can insist that they ensure their records are correct and that they use the right house number in all future correspondence, but I feel the fault really lies with your neighbour for opening and reading a letter which although delivered to the wrong house number, was addressed to you, not them.

I do hope you can resolve this

Sounds horrible and shouldn't have happened, how's your daughter reacting to this? The PALS team at the hospital should be able to help and advise you about complaint procedures and options.

Personally, I would call the hospital and speak to the Consultant's secretary. It may or may not have been her who actually typed the letter, and inform them of what happened, with a requirement to check all documentation for the correct address. Unfortunately, it sounds like a human error at the hospital end, compounded by your neighbour opening the post. These things, whilst highly undesirable, can happen.

A few years ago, I had a letter, from my then employer, land on my map. It was pension fund value details. Whilst I was delighted by the value, I also knew it couldn't be mine. I hadn't been here long enough to accumulate a fund that ginagerous.

On closer examination the letter wasn't addressed to me, but to someone else, at the same house number, in a road close by. Their surname began with the same letter (although, I hadn't checked that closely), and they apparently also work for my employer (a global company). I had opened the letter, based on the corporate logo on the envelope, and "knowing" it was that time of year to receive pensions valuations. I would call myself quite a careful person.

I called my employer to explain what I had seen and stated my intent was to destroy the letter as the potential to cause distress was large, and could do no good. The relevant department re-issued the letter. The company raised a complaint (due to the regulations surrounding that sort of information).

For all we know, your neighbour could be waiting for an appointment at the hospital (as they usually stamp/frank their envelopes), and opened it in good faith.

As I say, sadly human error can never be eradicated.

In a nutshell the hospital has made an error and your neighbour has committed a criminal offence. Now neither party may have done so intentionally, so it comes down to how much fuss you want to kick up. I would ask the neighbour if they had read the letter. If they did I would point out that it is a confidential matter, and that you are sure you can rely on them to forget what they had read.

I have had a letter from a previous GP practice sent to an old address, though I had notified them of my move. It did contain confidential information, and the person living there had opened it in error, and passed it on to me.
I told my GP when I next saw him and he was apologetic and did get the address on my records changed which apparently the admin staff had not done.
These things do happen, we are all human and can make mistakes especially if we are working in a pressured environment, which I would think the NHS is these days.

As for opening post which is addressed to someone else, yes it is illegal, but if it was posted through their letterbox they might well have opened it without reading the addressee name, assuming that it was for them. I have done that in the past, and only realised after I opened it that it wasn't for me. I taped it up and reposted it, writing on the envelope 'delivered to wrong address and opened in error'.

I understand that you would be upset about this though.

This needs reporting asap. An official letter from you to the Patient Liasison Office (PALS) with alll relevant details and may be even a copy of the official letter (keeping the original for yourself). This is an Information Governance errror that needs to be fully investigated and will be as it is IG.

I had 2 neighbours that had same 2nd name as me and 1 of them had a same 2 digits in their address, mine was 3 digits. I had letter after letter with my numbers on and my name. Lots of times I knew from postmark or by envelope it wasn't for me, but occasionally opened letter to find it wasn't for me, strangely the neighbours very rarely got one for me, I assume because I was delivered to 1st.

I wouldn't kick up too much of a fuss to be honest. Just point out to the hospital they've made a mistake. Simple.

In my case, the error was with the postie, then myself, as the letter had been correctly addressed, but our postie can be a grumpy guy, but he does try to do a decent job, and I'm conscious of confidentiality, so would never have knowingly read this guy's post.

Funnily enough I had a couple of things a few weeks ago for him, which I noticed this time, so trolled around and posted them through his letterbox. I then ensured I "bumped into" the postie to mention it to him. He was mortified - especially when I told him it had happened before.

My view would be that mentioning it to the neighbour could make it more of a big deal than he realises. He may not have given the content another thought, once realising it wasn't for them.

Sadly, s%^& happens,,

Your neighbour would only be committing an offence if according to the
Postal act 2000
A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.
The letter was addressed to the neighbour's house, you would have to prove they opened with the knowledge it would harm dd.

I tend to agree with @mahola , point out their mistake and leave it at that, by making an official complaint your only going to get someone into trouble, we all make mistakes in life and being punished for them isn't always the right approach (however the choice is yours @Type1asem ).

The only thing that's happened is your neighbour now knows your girl is diabetic. It's not something to be ashamed of. That is, if the neighbour even bothered reading the letter. They might have just saw it wasn't intended for them and stuck it back in the envelope and reposted it to your house.

Type1asem said:

It clearly states my a dress at the top of the letter so I'm livid as to how they addressed ot wrongly.

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Human error.

I always gather up the envelopes from the doormat, slit them open, fish out the contents and throw most of them in the bin, and once in a while find something for someone else. I don't think that makes me a criminal. If I did something criminal using either the contents of the letter or information it contained then it would be a more serious offence due to how it was obtained.
I am dyslexic, and I had to read what the problem was a couple of times before I realised what had happened - 6 and 9 are amongst the most difficult to 'see' correctly along with b p d and g if hand written. It is a surprisingly common problem - particularly as there are still reception class teachers who refuse to accept it even exists. The person typing the letter and envelope might have the same problem as I do and simply failed to see the error as it would have been far less obvious to them than someone with normal perception.
It has just struck me that the revelation - if your neighbour did read and understand the letter - might at some time be a blessing - should your neighbour notice something wrong at some time in the future the knowledge might mean someone rushing to help rather than turning away puzzled by erratic behaviour. Just a thought. All things may work together for good.

noblehead said:

I tend to agree with @mahola , point out their mistake and leave it at that, by making an official complaint your only going to get someone into trouble, we all make mistakes in life and being punished for them isn't always the right approach (however the choice is yours @Type1asem ).

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Wrong it should be reported via PALS it is a serious matter hospitals are fined quite often for these instances of IG failings and it is taken quite seriously by hospital authorities and staff. .What can happen is the patient details are input on one part of the system and the letters are generated using another part of the system mistakes have to be corrected at a basic level across the whole system.

One department at our local hospital where my wife works in Admin over the last 2 years has sent out over 30,000 letters the people typing and sending out the letters can't check each one for correct address or details but has to go by what has been entered into the system.

Bye the way she dictated my earlier post. .

Good it needs to be investigated so that they can find out how it happened and stop it from happening again.

In all probability no one will get sacked though they may get a severe dressing down and have to redo their IG training which they have to do every year any way.