Nottingham University Hospitals lost historical maternity data during IT work

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust has revealed that historical maternity records for women and babies treated between September 2011 and November 2022 were accidentally overwritten during routine IT work. The incident occurred on 18 August when staff, attempting to copy a radiotherapy database, used pre-written computer instructions intended for a different hospital system without adjusting a specific setting. This caused the process to run on the maternity database instead.

While the trust has successfully restored clinical information such as notes, observations, and test results, it has been unable to recover the complete audit history. Consequently, the trust may be unable to confirm who accessed specific maternity records during that 11-year period. NUH stated that current patient information was not affected and there is no evidence that data was accessed inappropriately.

Nottinghamshire Police has been notified and is assessing the incident's impact on ‘Operation Perth’, an ongoing investigation into deaths and injuries related to maternity care at Nottingham City Hospital and Queen's Medical Centre. The Information Commissioner’s Office has also been notified.