A hospital trust is changing its stationery after a patient complained
that sensitive information on a letter posted to him could be seen through the envelope.
 

The case was highlighted in a report to the Brighton and Sussex University
Hospitals NHS Trust (BSUH) board.
 

It is the first time the trust has received a complaint like this but managers
have taken action as a result.
 

The report said: “Mr A raised concerns that he had received letters from
the trust which revealed sensitive private information about him through
the window of the envelope.
 

“Mr A also complained that the envelopes used were so thin that it was
possible to read some of the text on the letters through the outside of the
envelopes.
 

“We are now in the process of changing all BSUH letter templates so that
any sensitive information is printed at the bottom of the letter.
 

“As there are several hundred letter templates, this process will however,
take some time to complete.
 

“We are changing our stationery supplier in order to standardise the quality
of our window envelopes.

"The new envelopes will have a hatched pattern on the inside which will mean that the content of the letter will not be visible from the outside.
 

“While it is not financially and administratively practicable to change
to windowless envelopes at the current time, we are exploring a proposal to change our systems which would enable us to transfer to windowless
envelopes in the future.”
 

The trust runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and
Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath among others.