In December 2018, Well said it was “truly sorry” after a document – which included names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and some payroll numbers of 24,099 employees and locums – was sent as an email attachment to an undisclosed number of Well locums.

In a statement this morning (March 13), the PDA said it “had been asked by affected members to start a claim on their behalf against Well and [is] currently gathering information to progress this”.

“In just over 24 hours, we have had close to 600 pharmacists register their interest in pursuing a claim against Well,” it told C+D.

“Each affected pharmacist may be entitled to compensation, possibly ranging from hundreds to the low thousands of pounds, depending on individual circumstances and facts,” the PDA claimed.

PDA director of defence services Mark Pitt said: “Well has informed us that the email was sent to 1,050 people, of whom 376 were potentially able to access the spreadsheet.”

The data breach “may be relevant to pharmacists that have ever worked for, or provided locum services to Well (or a predecessor company) since at least as far back as 2003”, the PDA also claimed.

Well “working with the PDA”

Well transformation director and senior information risk owner Chris Ellett told C+D the multiple has been “working with the PDA to ensure information about the data breach is correct”.

“We continue to work with the Information Commissioner’s Officer in respect of the breach, and have been transparent about the findings of our investigation,” Mr Ellett said.

“Both data and information security are taken very seriously at Well, and we are sorry this has happened. A number of changes have been made to our processes to ensure all data is safe and secure,” he added.