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Chaya Hanoomanjee, from law firm Austen Hayes, explains why this case matters, and what to do if you think you may have been affected.

Adam Freedman, our Policy, Research and Influencing Manager, writes about working with the Independent Commissioners Office (ICO) to improve their work around HIV data breaches.

HIV is considered a disability from the point of diagnosis and therefore is protected under the 2010 Equality Act.

Confidentiality of patient information is one of the most ancient and important principles of medicine. If doctors tell other people what we tell them, many of us would avoid healthcare and as a result get sick, and possibly die. Infectious diseases would spread in the population unchecked. That’s why there are well established rules in law and medical ethics both to require confidentiality and also lay down the rare circumstances where confidentiality might be breached.

Sexual health remains for most people a sensitive and private matter – if we go to a sexual health clinic we expect the information they record about our sexual behaviour, about the tests we have, any STIs diagnosed and the treatment provided, to be kept confidential.