The message went out to patients of Askern Medical Practice on December 23, 2022. It asked patients to fill out a DS1500 form, which is used to help terminal patients speed up benefit access because they do not have time to mess around.

About an hour, the medical facility apologised in a follow-up text message. According to the BBC, the message was supposed to say, "We wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.' In case of emergency, please get in touch with NHS 111."

On Tuesday, the surgery made its apology public via its Facebook page.

"While no data was breached, we can confirm an admin staff error was made, for which we apologised immediately upon becoming aware,"

"We would like to again apologise sincerely to all patients for the distress caused. We take patient communication, confidentiality and data protection very seriously."

The surgery portrayed the errant text message as an administrative and computer-related error without clarifying just how the mistake occurred.