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The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) is gathering information to progress a compensation claim for those of its members affected by the data breach at Well Pharmacy.
In December 2018, Well Pharmacy, the UK’s largest independent pharmacy chain, apologised after it sent out the identifiable personal data of more than 24,000 employees in an email.
The email included a spreadsheet containing the name, address, phone number, email address and payroll number of 24,099 Well Pharmacy employees and locums.
In a press release, the PDA said the breach may be relevant to pharmacists who have worked for or provided locum services to the company, or a predecessor company, since 2003. Each pharmacist affected may be entitled to compensation, which could range from hundreds to thousands of pounds, depending on the individual, it said.
“Well has informed us that the email was sent to 1,050 people, of whom 376 were potentially able to access the spreadsheet,” said Mark Pitt, director of defence services at the PDA.
“We are looking into this claim on behalf of our members and have informed them of what we now know about the breach, what we’re doing to help members and what action they can take.”
In December 2018, Well Pharmacy told The Pharmaceutical Journal that the breach was the result of “human error” and that although the email was recalled immediately, there was still a risk that certain information was at risk of being shared. It added that a “full investigation” had been launched to prevent the error occurring again.
