Wellington psychiatrist to apologise for sending fundraising letters to patients in ‘clear breach’ of Privacy Act

Dr Sarah Romans says she understands she made a mistake. File photo / Stock Image 123rf

An experienced psychiatrist will apologise after sending letters to patients asking them for money for a new depression treatment centre, saying she now realises it was a “clear breach” of the Privacy Act.

The Wellington Depression Recovery Trust is a charitable organisation that aims to provide high-quality personalised care for people with moderate to severe depression. With a hopeful opening date of next May, the centre is trying to raise $750,000 for a treatment space.

Dr Sarah Romans, a highly experienced senior academic psychiatrist with more than 40 years’ experience, is a volunteer with the centre, which she believes could make a real difference in mental health services in Aotearoa.

In an effort to assist in raising the cash, Romans sent brochures for the centre to her patients – as well as a cover letter asking them to donate.

She told the Herald she now understands her actions were “a clear breach of the Privacy Act” - by taking information she collected for one purpose, and using it for a different one.

“I had not thought it through thoroughly and had not taken medicolegal advice before I sent the mailout. I plan to apologise fully to everyone.”

One person who received a letter from Romans described feeling “crushed” by the letter, which they thought was a genuine offer of an existing service that could help them, instead of a request for money.

Another described the letter as “beyond inappropriate”.

Director of the Wellington Depression Recovery Trust Brent Williams told the Herald Romans was a “highly valued” volunteer for the centre who was just trying to help – but unfortunately got it wrong.

“I unreservedly apologise to everyone who received the letter from Dr Romans,” Williams said.

“While Dr Romans sent the letter in her personal capacity, she is a highly valued volunteer at the trust and in sending the letters was solely seeking to help the trust, just going about it in the wrong way.”

Williams said he had been in contact with two people who received the letters and reassured them their personal details were not shared further than Romans – but understood why they might have thought their details had been leaked.

“I can see why recipients might have thought that the letter came from the trust as the letters named me and had a Depression Recovery Trust sticker on their back. So it is understandable that recipients would then think that Dr Romans had shared their details with the trust and be outraged,” he said.

“This is not the case as the letters were sent by Dr Romans in her personal capacity and no patient details were given to the trust.”

Williams said he took full responsibility and was taking steps to ensure nothing like it happened again.

“Specifically, I will inform all our volunteers of their duties under the privacy code and professional codes of conduct to respect the personal information they hold or any information obtained. I am also arranging some specific training for volunteers around privacy.”

Romans told the Herald she would apologise “unreservedly” to those who received the letters and realises now she made a mistake.

“I did contact patients and previous patients to tell them about the Wellington Depression Recovery Centre by email. We then sent the brochure by post with the ‘funding raising’ letter to some of them and this was a mistake. I get why some people have been upset and I will be apologising fully to them. I will be much more careful about these privacy/ethical boundaries going forward.”

She believed the centre could bridge a gap in the New Zealand mental health system, and hoped it would be successful.

“The core therapy in our proposed programme is group therapy, an approach very underused in NZ psychiatric services. I have often thought about how to set up such groups but didn’t have the time, capacity or resources to do so, until Brent came up with his carefully planned concept.

“I really hope we can get this programme off the ground. It can benefit many and their families.”