I’m a bit miffed tbh. I’m a long-term spectacle wearer with a pretty strong prescription so I tend to buy the thinnest lenses I can afford.

Mrs Ambrose visited the opticians yesterday and they told her what I had purchased. I have nothing to hide from her, but I’m uneasy that a member of staff could feel that it is OK to do this.

Mrs A is off to collect her contact lenses tomorrow and will mention it.

In the mean time….. GRRRRR!

I’d be having a word with the manager, if it was me; that is unacceptable and I’m pretty certain it contravenes patient/customer confidentiality.

Eh? Sounds like you’ve invented something to be outraged about.

A) she’s your wife
B) it’s your lens details, not your PIN code
C) they did your wife a favour, presumably because she asked

I’m erring that way too, but Mrs A won’t let me go in in person. She knows me well and is worried that I’ll make a big fuss/ scene.

im sorry, they told her what exactly?

that another customer, one she knows, opted for thin lenses?
or your prescription
or that you dont really need glasses you are in fact clark kent

get yourself in there and demand rectification of this awful situation. looking forward to the report.

Actually yes, that is a breach. A friend is an ex optician, ex because he got sick of not being able to report folk to the DVLA because of confidentiality issues.

I think you’d be best relaxing and just letting it go – she is your wife and not your neighbour

I’m with the OP on this. Doesn’t matter who it is, you cannot divulge information like that to a third party. Gross misconduct with my employer.

Not sure I’d go storming in, but it’s definitely unacceptable and I’d be putting that point across.

A friend is an ex optician, ex because he got sick of not being able to report folk to the DVLA because of confidentiality issues.

I thought they could if they thought the public interest in doing so was more important than patient confidentiality?

The must be more to the “story” than just this?

They told her what lens type I had opted for. Not my prescription. Nor my secret agent past.

I’m annoyed that they divulged this to another person without asking me first. I don’t mind her knowing in the slightest, but I’m annoyed that the optician’s feel that they can divulge in this way.

Wow.

Must be the time of year.

Or Brexit.

Yep – Brexit.

Clear breach of confidentiality worth a serious disciplinary and almost certainly illegal under the data protection act. I’d be furious and would be making a formal complaint and would want folkj disciplined ( but not sacked)

If I did something similar in my job I would be in big trouble

Opticians can refer to the DVLA (via the police I believe)….the police are exempt from having to gain consent to notify the DVLA directly…i know because the police did it to me based on a non driving issue but incorrect info my useless employer supplied to them when they thought I’d gone AWOL at work.

Basically if the police feel it’s in the public interest, a safeguarding issue or a safety for other road users issue then they can approach the DVLA without you knowing about it until you get the letter threatening to revoke your licence….and then they will collude to avoid telling you who initially supplied them the info they’re acting on…i had to lodge a complaint with the IPCC in order to get them to divulge that my employer had duff information on my medical history….all fun and games until you realise your job, your independence, your social life and your relationship are under threat because of losing your licence….managed to get my GP to back me up and head off the police and DVLA but my employer is still being a dick about the nonsense on the ‘medical’ file they hold on me….never mind, I now have a solicitor and I’m in the process of suing them, it’s not like the NHS needs the money is it!?…you think they’d just admit their mistake and apologise instead of paying out but no, in true public sector fashion they’re digging in and will end up handing over a lot of money to me instead….the police effectively threw them under the bus….can’t wait.

@Scotroutes

What are you going on about?

tj- like you, I’d be having an uncomfortable meeting with my line manager if I did something similar too.

I wouldn’t just be having an uncomfortable meeting. I would be disciplined and sanctioned.

OP,

Do you stick to the speed limits when driving?

All else is just fluff. 🙂

They havent divulged any personal data have they – which would be a breach of the data protection act.

What they have done is tell your wife what off the shelf product you have bought.

They have divulged p[ersonal data without consent – and if any of the data is stored on computer or even if in some cases it is not any release of any personal information without consent is a breach of the data protection act

There is of course no way your wife could have told what type lenses you had bought otherwise.

Unless of course she looked at you.

Yeah as above, personal information is address, DOB etc maybe at a stretch your prescription but saying broadly what product you opted for is not really personal is it?

Also what are you hiding from your wife that means she cant possibly know the thickness of your lenses? 😆

If you walked into a bike shop and were chatting to someone and said “my mate steve was in the other day and bought a specialized enduro not sure which one though it was green” and they said “oh yeah it was one of these *points*” would you start shouting at them for breaching the data protection act despite the fact you had already clearly seen steves bike and it was not a secret?

How cross would you be if you asked your wife to pop in and find out if you’d ordered nikon or zeiss lenses and they said, sorry, your husband will have to come in and ask for himself!

TJ – I think it’s a stretch as it is not personal – you can’t determine anything personal from that particular product choice.

Was it a Boots optician OP? If so, complain. You may get some extra Advantage points or what ever they are. 🙂

A friend is an ex optician, ex because he got sick of not being able to report folk to the DVLA because of confidentiality issues.

He was badly misinformed then.

Opticians can report directly to the DVLA if someone is unfit to drive but continues to do so in spite of the opticians advice.

They don’t need to go via the police either.

It is most definitely a breach of the Data Protection Act. Medical data is actually classified as Sensitive Personal Data and release of it in the fashion you describe would be a breach of the act.

If you believe a company has breached the act, you should report them to the Information Commissioners Office. Their website has a process for doing this.

If you look at their report for who they have fined and why, you’ll see large and small businesses.

Words fail me….

They told her what lens type I had opted for. Not my prescription.

Surely anyone could tell you had very thin lens by standing next to you and looking at your glasses?

Are you really upset by this?

I take it both you and the Mrs are regulars there?

Has your wife given permission for you to disclose to STW and the whole worldwide webesphere that she will be wearing contact lenses?

Did you say something about a glasses prescription that your wife now knows about or am I missing something?
Not the docs & a STD? Or worse.

Mountains & molehills.

& yes, I do agree that patient confidentiality is vital but, It’s your eye prescription FFS!

Mountain and mole hill spring to mind here.

I must be wired differently but I honestly do not think I would give a toss and neither would the missus.

They told your wife about your lens prescription; not your next door neighbour you have herpes.

Life is too short to get annoyed by such trivial matters.

Yes its personal info as it is info belonging to the person. Personal info in that sense.

I work in healthcare. Any information about a person must be kept confidential. You can only use information given to you for the purposes it was given and you cannot divulge information without the persons consent.

I have had 3 organisations including the nurses regulatory body censured by the information commissioner for similar sorts of things.

A bike shop does not have the same duty of care.

It is most definitely a breach of the Data Protection Act. Medical data is actually classified as Sensitive Personal Data

Thick or thin lenses is sensitive medical data?

It isnt even medical data, let alone sensitive.

It is a product you chose to buy instead of another alternative.

Also you are livid about an opticians telling your wife but are happy to tell a bunch of internet strangers what kind of lenses you have?

To those saying it wasn’t personal information disclosed, the fact they confirmed that you were even there is not on. All sorts of guidelines about this sort of thing and abusive relationships etc. They could get themselves into a lot of trouble for doing so. Whether or not this was applicable to the OP’s personal circumstances doesn’t matter, the opticians didn’t know that.

This must be a wind up from the OP. People dying of violence and malnutrition in Syria and there’s outrage because the wife knows what kind of glasses you wear!

Was it actually your prescription or just xyz brand of lens?

I’m struggling to see how brand of lens etc is confidential. Medical prescription yes but I’m getting the impression that wasn’t what was shared. As per the analogy above if sweamrs was in my lbs and they said “sweaman2 has gone for the minions again this spring” then no issue.

If the lbs said “and here’s the invoice” minor issue depending on the couple.

Optician = medical professional so cannot release info to anyone
Dirksdiggler yes that can be a problem, relatives get annoyed when we can’t give out info.
I seem to remember a case a few years ago where a wife phoned to enquire about her husbands dental appointment to be told he hadn’t been seen in ages. Turns out he had told her of quite a few appointments when he was actually having an affair. He successfully sued the dentist…..

This must be a wind up from the OP.

Has to be, but how do people think up such wind ups?

Its different for medical professionals to a bike shop.

Its a serious breach of confidentiality with minor consequences in this case.

How is disclosing someone was in an opticians personal data? Genuinely curious as lots of people could see someone enter / exit.