GDPR issue in Pharmacy

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Need advice on how to handle this. Patient in my local chemist. A member of staff there with an abrupt manner, but was flat out hostile to me during the week, making me so uncomfortable I walked out of the chemist without carrying out the business I went in for.

Fast forward tonight, this ladies brothers girlfriend posted up a Facebook message advising me to find another chemist to torment. This lady is a 3rd party not associated with the chemist either now or in the past.

How do I approach this? I spoke to the manager during the week when the initial incident happened

dobman88

Some aul wan in a pharmacy gossiping about some customer to some other wan isn't a GDPR breach. Jesus christ. :pac:

It's bad form to do it but people seem to think GDPR is everything it's not.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

No, the staff member gossiping about me outside of work

antix80

That doesn't sound like a gdpr issue.

Nice try though.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Given the staff in pharmacies are bound by the same confidentiality as other medical professionals

antix80

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

Given the staff in pharmacies are bound by the same confidentiality as other medical professionals

No more than staff at a makeup counter.

I think you should take your business elsewhere.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

antix80 wrote: »

No more than staff at a makeup counter.

I think you should take your business elsewhere.

Staff at a makeup counter don’t have access to personal and sensitive medical information

punisher5112

Definitely worth an email or letter to owner but I wouldn't be going back there as that's extremely unprofessional.

You know there are rooms you can ask to be seen in and ask for pharmacist.

antix80

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

Staff at a makeup counter don’t have access to personal and sensitive medical information

No evidence sbe disclosed sensitive medical info.

Is there bad blood between you and that family?

banie01

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

Given the staff in pharmacies are bound by the same confidentiality as other medical professionals

Did the pharmacy employee discuss your medical info?
Or did they discuss that they don't like you?

One is a breach, the other is gossip.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

antix80 wrote: »

No evidence sbe disclosed sensitive medical info.

Is there bad blood between you and that family?

Not at all. I don’t know the lady outside going in and out of the chemist. Always found her manner to be very abrupt but put that down to just how she was. She was rude and hostile on Monday. I would know her brother more of an acquaintance than anything else. I used to be friends with his girlfriend but we no longer talk however there was no drama there, just stopped talking. She’s using this now on her public Facebook which I’m not happy about

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

banie01 wrote: »

Did the pharmacy employee discuss your medical info?
Or did they discuss that they don't like you?

One is a breach, the other is gossip.

Oh listen, I’ve no problem with her not liking me. I wouldn’t be losing any sleep over that. Having a 3rd party post a public message on Facebook telling me to find another chemist to torment is what I hold issue with.

kirving

I guess it depends on what you went there for?

Anything anyway medical and I'd be surprised if the owners didn't sack her for sharing your information.

I know a few people who worked in pharmacies (not pharmacists) and they're told not to even say to their friends/relatives if a mutual friend/relative comes in.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I went in there for a medical reason, yes. She was behind the dispensary when I walked in and she walked out to me and was rude, I left and complained and now her brothers girlfriend has it publicly on Facebook that I should find another chemist to torment.

banie01

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

Oh listen, I’ve no problem with her not liking me. I wouldn’t be losing any sleep over that. Having a 3rd party post a public message on Facebook telling me to find another chemist to torment is what I hold issue with.

So no evidence on your part that a medical or confidential piece of information was disclosed?

A 3rd party not employed by the Pharmacy took it upon themselves to tell you find an alternative pharmacy.
The staff member may have passed a comment along the lines of "shoesdaychild stormed out of here like a bitch", nothing confidential or protected in disclosing that opinion.
Then the 3rd party decided to run with it and tell you to find a different place to go.
Unless the pharmacy employee told you directly and publically to take your custom elsewhere, or you have proof that she directed her friend to do it.

Then much as you might be irked, there's nothing really actionable.

Darc19

I'd certainly be concerned, but it's very much a customer service issue than gdpr (people should read up on gdpr before using the term)

I'd take a screenshot of the post, send it to the pharmacist / manager / owner and ask if it's policy for staff to gossip about customers and get their friends to make disparaging remarks?

Ask for action to be taken and you'd like to know the outcome.

Alternatively tag them in a post with a screenshot and say that if you have a customer service issue with this pharmacy, then expect a personal attack by friends of the staff on Facebook

TheDriver

I concur that GDPR is the most misquoted and misinterpreted law put there.
OP I'd go with Darc19 advice

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Thanks for all your help everybody! I contacted the pharmacy this morning to speak to the manager, turned out it was the owner I spoke with. He was totally horrified and asked me to meet face to face to discuss this given how serious it is. He will travel to meet me too.

Darc19

He/she might want to be rid of this person and you are doing them and their customers a favor.

duffman13

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

Thanks for all your help everybody! I contacted the pharmacy this morning to speak to the manager, turned out it was the owner I spoke with. He was totally horrified and asked me to meet face to face to discuss this given how serious it is. He will travel to meet me too.

Any pharmacist/manager/owner in that industry wouldn't tolerate that kind of behaviour, the fact she's publicly put something on Facebook means she's probably screwed herself. Idle gossip is hard to prove, her Facebook post isn't. Fair play to the owner.

AlphabetCards

I cannot understand how anyone can defend this behaviour. At worst this is a potentially serious breach of medical confidentiality. At best, an employee is dragging her boss and her bosses business into serious disrepute. Best of luck OP.

biko

Screenshot the FB post and mail it to the owner of the chemist.
Maybe they will see things your way, maybe they won't.

Sir Oxman

My take would be customer service matter.
She's only herself to blame because she ID'd you to the other one.
The FB post is the posters responsibility but I'd say the pharmacy boss won't be happy at all that his staff is the source of this.

I mean, the one in the chemist could be telling your private business along with her dislike of you and that is the problem.
What else is she saying about people?

Kristopherus

biko wrote: »

Screenshot the FB post and mail it to the owner of the chemist.
Maybe they will see things your way, maybe they won't.

Well, if the OP is meeting the owner/ manager, she could bring the screenshot with her to that meeting. And, imo, she should take a few screenshots if there's a chance that circumstances will warrant their use down the road. And she should take them tonight/ tomorrow, in case the post is deleted.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I have absolutely screenshot the posts already, and I messaged the girl to ask what she’s talking about, to which she screenshot that and placed it on her Facebook too so made me very identifiable as I’d named the pharmacy in my private text to her. She’s clearly unhinged but my personal business in the chemist should not have been made known to her and if the lady working in the chemist conducted herself with any manners or professionalism on Monday, I wouldn’t have had to leave the chemist.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Look up what GDPR before asking if this is related..which it isn’t.

Keith186

OP's name is "personal data" and the pharmacy has no business sharing it with relatives of staff.
Why wouldn't this be considered a breach of GDPR?
I'm glad the owner is involved and will hopefully address the issue for the OP.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I did look up GDPR and my name was considered personal data

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Irregardless of the fact, it is a consumer issue and the posters have been very helpful.

Purple Mountain

It's definitely a customer confidentiality issue and a serious one.
Not GDPR like stated above.
Sounds like she got told off for being rude to you, went home and blabbed, which she absolutely should not have done.
Her sister in law has less sense than she has to contact you.
They've both made their own bed, I'd be glad to see them both get a boll*king.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I wouldn’t be as mad if she contacted me privately but she posted it as a Facebook status the mad bitch

Purple Mountain

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

I wouldn’t be as mad if she contacted me privately but she posted it as a Facebook status the mad bitch

No, she should not have had any information that you were even a customer in there to be able to contact you.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

And then to take it upon herself to tell me never to return, when it’s been where I’ve been going since I was a child

Princess Calla

I wouldn't contact either of them, as these things have a knack of snowballing!!

I wouldn't be surprised if this is considered gross misconduct. You are also probably not the first to complain.

That staff member is a liability to the owner now.

Best of luck, I'm fuming on your behalf

Op, Can we take it for granted that the info did not come from another customer in the shop?

To those who say this is not a GDPR issue, you are incorrect. Also, it could be more serious than that for the pharmacy, a customer has a right to expect confidentiality when getting medications, this includes the conversation.

In this case, the op was identified, and private details about the conversation were given to another member of the public by a staff member. If you google, you will find a well publicised case of where a member of staff at a health clinic discussed details about treatments and personality of patients at a party, a few mins later those details were on Facebook, the clinic is now closed.

The potential downside for you op, is that if you have a history of being difficult to deal with, other health care/medication providers may be wary of accepting you as a patient/customer.

As a Clinic owner, I would look at this as a serious breach of confidence, the staff member acted wholly unprofessionally in every way. After hearing all the facts, disciplinary action would certainly be considered.

Sleeper12

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote:

No, the staff member gossiping about me outside of work

It has nothing to do with GDPR though

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Dav010 wrote: »

Op, Can we take it for granted that the info did not come from another customer in the shop?

To those who say this is not a GDPR issue, you are incorrect. Also, it could be more serious than that for the pharmacy, a customer has a right to expect confidentiality when getting medications, this includes the conversation.

In this case, the op was identified, and private details about the conversation were given to another member of the public by a staff member. If you google, you will find a well publicised case of where a member of staff at a health clinic discussed details about treatments and personality of patients at a party, a few mins later those details were on Facebook, the clinic is now closed.

The potential downside for you op, is that if you have a history of being difficult to deal with, other health care/medication providers may be wary of accepting you as a patient/customer.

As a Clinic owner, I would look at this as a serious breach of confidence, the staff member acted wholly unprofessionally in every way. After hearing all the facts, disciplinary action would certainly be considered.

I have never had a problem with the chemist before and didn’t make a big deal out of the initial complaint, I just said she had been really rude and I left. I was happy enough to park it there, until I read my business that I should find another chemist on facebook.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Info 100% didn’t come from another customer.

FutureTeashock

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

Info 100% didn’t come from another customer.

I'm no rocket scientist, but this is where you need to complain to.


https://www.thepsi.ie/gns/making-a-complaint/overview.aspx

Sleeper12

Sleeper12 wrote: »

It has nothing to do with GDPR though

It has to do with both patient confidentiality and GDPR. The op was identified, and personal data in the form of his/her interaction with the chemist was not only breached, but also published online. You may not have an expectation of confidentiality with conversations with your local shopkeeper, they may not collect data on you, Chemists most certainly do, they have your name address, Med card number, Med conditions, medications, GP etc, breaches of any type, including confidential conversations are both the above.

Every employee of a chemist, Doctor, Dentist etc knows you cannot divulge information about clients, this extends to their conduct.

joeguevara

It could simply be a case of said person seeing an altercation in the pharmacy and calling you out on Facebook. (no gdpr issue)

It could be a case of pharmacist venting about you to said person and they take it on themselves to call you out on Facebook. (possible gdpr issue but impossible to prove)

Or it could be a case of pharmacist disclosing and your information and then you being called out (gdpr issue but only way of proving it is if they disclosed it through pharmacy email/social media).

Firstly change pharmacy. No one Ned's to feel bad in the way they are treated.

As for the rest, because of difficulty in proving best to move on. However if you feel sensitive medical information was disclosed follow up with data protection commissioner.

Report post to Facebook and follow up with said person if they overstepped.

joeguevara

joeguevara wrote: »

It could simply be a case of said person seeing an altercation in the pharmacy and calling you out on Facebook. (no gdpr issue)

It could be a case of pharmacist venting about you to said person and they take it on themselves to call you out on Facebook. (possible gdpr issue but impossible to prove)

Or it could be a case of pharmacist disclosing and your information and then you being called out (gdpr issue but only way of proving it is if they disclosed it through pharmacy email/social media).

Firstly change pharmacy. No one Ned's to feel bad in the way they are treated.

As for the rest, because of difficulty in proving best to move on. However if you feel sensitive medical information was disclosed follow up with data protection commissioner.

Report post to Facebook and follow up with said person if they overstepped.

The op does not need to prove the breach unless he/she is looking for a pay out, if the op wants to make a point, the complaint alone will have the desired effect when it reaches the owner.

joeguevara

Dav010 wrote: »

The op does not need to prove the breach unless he/she is looking for a pay out, if the op wants to make a point, the complaint alone will have the desired effect when it reaches the owner.

I hate data breaches. But in this situation it is more than likely a busy body overhearing as they were queuing up. If there is a complaint the DPC will ask what happened. There is probably no paper trail even if it was done by pharmacist. In my experience nothing would come out of it... Id be more inclined to bring it up with the person who siad it publicly on facebook

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

joeguevara wrote: »

I hate data breaches. But in this situation it is more than likely a busy body overhearing as they were queuing up. If there is a complaint the DPC will ask what happened. There is probably no paper trail even if it was done by pharmacist. In my experience nothing would come out of it... Id be more inclined to bring it up with the person who siad it publicly on facebook

There was no other customers in the chemist

Princess Calla

joeguevara wrote: »

I hate data breaches. But in this situation it is more than likely a busy body overhearing as they were queuing up. If there is a complaint the DPC will ask what happened. There is probably no paper trail even if it was done by pharmacist. In my experience nothing would come out of it... Id be more inclined to bring it up with the person who siad it publicly on facebook

I'm sure cctv will prove who was in the shop at the time.

Also if I was the staff member and I saw one of my friends posting that I'd be getting them to take it down immediately. I would also be questioning the friendship to be honest.

I would see this as bullying and intimidation also.

It's really not nice and I wouldn't like to be in shoesdays shoes.

joeguevara

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote: »

There was no other customers in the chemist

Fair enough... So the person who served you was abrupt....and her brother posted a message to you publicly on Facebook.. The fact you know its her brother and the fact that they found you on Facebook doesn't necessarily make it a GDPR issue... Makes it an everyone knows everyone issue. Take it up with the guy who messaged you... Don't waste your time with going down a data protection route because based on the information posted is impossible to prove. If specific medical information was mentioned then yes.. But it's akin to a sister telling a brother that she had a bad experience in a pub and then it being posted on Facebook... People should sort the issue with the person rather than going straight to GDPR.

Sleeper12

Dav010 wrote:

It has to do with both patient confidentiality and GDPR. The op was identified, and personal data in the form of his/her interaction with the chemist was not only breached, but also published online. You may not have an expectation of confidentiality with conversations with your local shopkeeper, they may not collect data on you, Chemists most certainly do, they have your name address, Med card number, Med conditions, medications, GP etc, breaches of any type, including confidential conversations are both the above.

Definitely not GDPR. OP didn't get any further than a greeting from the sales assistant. No personal data was taken, processed or stored by the business. Sales assistant needs to be sacked for being a right tit but nothing OP has said so far falls under GDPR

Princess Calla

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Definitely not GDPR. OP didn't get any further than a greeting from the sales assistant. No personal data was taken, processed or stored by the business. Sales assistant needs to be sacked for being a right tit but nothing OP has said so far falls under GDPR

Yeah but she's a regular client since childhood so everything is in the system so easily accessed.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

joeguevara wrote: »

Fair enough... So the person who served you was abrupt....and her brother posted a message to you publicly on Facebook.. The fact you know its her brother and the fact that they found you on Facebook doesn't necessarily make it a GDPR issue... Makes it an everyone knows everyone issue. Take it up with the guy who messaged you... Don't waste your time with going down a data protection route because based on the information posted is impossible to prove. If specific medical information was mentioned then yes.. But it's akin to a sister telling a brother that she had a bad experience in a pub and then it being posted on Facebook... People should sort the issue with the person rather than going straight to GDPR.

Ok so GDPR may, or may not, be the wrong term to use. But this is more than 'everyone knows everyone'. It's about somebody working in a business talking to others about people or events pertaining to the business and that should not be broadcast on social media. As for sorting it with the person, why should the OP do that? The employer can sort it with them. I don't think the OP is necessarily going the data protection route but is simply looking for action as a result of highly unprofessional behaviour by a staff member.

Sleeper12

Kinslee Angry Scrabble wrote:

Fast forward tonight, this ladies brothers girlfriend posted up a Facebook message advising me to find another chemist to torment. This lady is a 3rd party not associated with the chemist either now or in the past.

Princess Calla wrote:

Yeah but she's a regular client since childhood so everything is in the system so easily accessed.

You need to read the OP. Sales assistant didn't post anything. A 3rd party did. The only thing posted was not to use this particular pharmacy. Message didn't come from the shop or sales assistant.

First there is no proof that sales assistant has anything to do with it and second there is no proof that the information was gathered in another way. The information posted identified OP as a client of the pharmacy but anyone seeking OP enter the shop will have this information. The information gathered by the shop, medical records & address haven't been shared.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Sleeper12 wrote: »

You need to read the OP. Sales assistant didn't post anything. A 3rd party did. The only thing posted was not to use this particular pharmacy. Message didn't come from the shop or sales assistant.

First there is no proof that sales assistant has anything to do with it and second there is no proof that the information was gathered in another way. The information posted identified OP as a client of the pharmacy but anyone seeking OP enter the shop will have this information. The information gathered by the shop, medical records & address haven't been shared.

Yes, the 3rd party used telepathy to know what had happened in the chemists. It's clear the staff member went the cheap gossiping route.