NHS launches probe child takes records of 150 patients to school to use as ‘drawing paper’
NHS launches study after five-year data from 150 patients takes to school to use as ‘drawing paper’
The NHS launched an investigation after a student brought printed files containing details of 150 patients to school to use as drawing paper.
The Bedfordshire Hospitals Foundation Trust confirmed it is investigating how the child obtained the personal documents.
However, it declined to say whether any of the pupil’s relatives worked for the trust.
The incident was reported in the trust’s quarterly information management board report and disclosed by the Journal of the Health Service.
It said the pupil arrived at the primary school with “numerous hand-ins” from various dates in 2022 that they had “apparently used as drawing paper”.
The NHS is investigating how the child managed to get hold of confidential patient documents (stock image)
‘About 150 patient information was on the magazines. The school staff removed these from the child’s possession and the IG governance manager visited the school to collect them.”
The trust said it was warned by the school’s projection officer about a child who had sheets of patient-identifiable information.
It said the information management manager went to collect the papers the same day and they were safely destroyed.
Bedfordshire Hospitals FT said the incident had been declared a data breach but not escalated to the Information Commissioner’s Office as it was under control.
David Carter, CEO of Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘We are aware of the recent data breach that occurred at our Trust.
“We take all breaches of confidential information very seriously and are conducting a thorough investigation into this incident.
“Additional processes have been put in place to prevent this from happening again.”