Families involved in the largest maternity review in NHS history say their harm has been “compounded” after a Nottingham hospital trust “accidentally lost” some maternity record data.
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) revealed on Monday (September 21) that a “human error” on August 18 had caused the accidental loss of some maternity data relating to women and babies who received care at the trust between September 2011 and November 2022.
It said that during routine technical work, an error had occurred while creating a copy of a radiotherapy database for reporting purposes. The process used a set of pre-written computer instructions that had previously been used for a different hospital system.
A setting that should have been changed before the process was run was missed, resulting in the process being carried out on a maternity database instead of the radiotherapy database, causing the records to be overwritten, NUH said.
The database contained maternity records relating to women and babies who received care between September 2011 and November 2022 from the previous maternity database, Medway.
NUH says it has now restored information needed to support patient care, including clinical information such as notes, observations, test results and other information recorded as part of a person’s care, but it has “not been able” to restore the complete history showing who viewed the maternity records during this period.
Families involved in the recently concluded Donna Ockenden Maternity Review – the largest in NHS history – have said the news of the lost access logs has “devastated” and “frustrated” them, as the viewing history essentially acts as an audit trail when developing a wider picture of someone’s care.
The independent review, which was published in June 2026, uncovered the true extent of a catalogue of failings by NUH’s maternity and neonatal service, leading to the harm and death of more than 2,400 mothers and babies – the majority of cases were from 2012, but some dated as far back as 2006.
Carly Wesson and Carl Everson, parents of baby Ladybird, who was wrongly diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality, leading to a termination at City Hospital in 2019, said the news has left them “deeply distressed”.
Mr Everson said: “It has categorically devastated us and has absolutely broken us.
“For some of the families, all they have left is police investigations [into care failings]. We don’t know the answer to this at the moment or if it could impact families’ cases.
“We heard about [the lost data] via a third party… At the moment, we’re in limbo land. The right thing the trust should have done is contact us [first] – at the moment, we don’t know if [our data] is affected or not.”
Mr Everson said the news of the lost data acts as “more evidence” for calls for a full public inquiry into care failings.
Ms Wesson added: “Whilst we acknowledge the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued sanctions on NUH for non-compliance with FOIs and has ongoing investigations regarding Subject Access Request delays, it’s evident these measures haven’t gone far enough.”
She is calling on the ICO to conduct a full investigation into the hospital trust’s data failings and delays.
It is unclear at this stage which families involved are impacted by this loss of data.
Sarah Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet was stillborn at City Hospital in 2016 due to care failings, asked: “Why is it always maternity [services]?
“It’s years of [families’] data too. We were going to see who looked at our notes. I know people had started to get around to [requesting access logs], which is also concerning – it’s that bit of accountability that’s been stolen.
“It compounds your harm because you just feel it can’t get any worse… you already don’t trust [NUH], and when they don’t look after people’s data and records, it comes down to trust to provide you with the right answers.”
Mrs Hawkins said these access logs are families’ “last bit of hope of some form of accountability”.
Sarah Andrews, whose daughter, Wynter, died 23 minutes after being born at QMC in September 2019, said she requested an access log showing which staff had accessed her medical records in January 2026 and believes the data has already been pulled.
Despite this, she said the news made her “frustrated”, adding: “It seems to be one thing after the other. I struggle to comprehend how this even happens – it’s another thing for the families who have been the most affected.”
Gary Andrews, Wynter’s father, said he is calling for “full independent scrutiny” of NUH.
He said: “The hospital is clearly not capable of getting to grips with this, along with the police investigation, the ICO investigation – if people are still making these types of mistakes, clearly something is going on there that needs to be explored… it paints a troubled and worrying picture of how data is handled.”
NUH says the data problem was “escalated within minutes of being identified” and that it worked with external specialists to recover as much data as possible.
The trust also notified the ICO and Nottinghamshire Police, which is assessing whether the data issue has affected the force’s Operation Perth.
Operation Perth is Nottinghamshire Police’s ongoing investigation into the deaths and serious injuries relating to maternity care under NUH’s maternity service. It was closely aligned with the Ockenden review.
Andy Callow, chief digital and information officer at NUH, said in a statement: “I am sorry for the concern and distress this incident may cause to women and families affected.
“On 18 August 2026, a human error during a routine technical process resulted in a maternity records database being unintentionally overwritten.
“There has been no impact on current maternity services or the care provided to women and babies today. However, to date, we have been unable to fully restore the historical record showing who viewed maternity records between September 2011 and November 2022.
“We have informed the Information Commissioner’s Office, completed a full investigation and strengthened our processes and controls to help prevent a similar incident from happening again.”
Deputy Chief Constable Rob Griffin, gold commander for Operation Perth, said in a statement: “At present, no crime has been identified. We have received a report from the individual concerned and have spoken with them. Further assessment is ongoing, and we are awaiting analysis of the digital process that was used.
“In relation to recovery, we are awaiting a copy of the database before any further attempts can be made. We anticipate receiving this during the course of the week.
“The overall impact on Operation Perth remains under assessment and we will be in a better position to provide a fuller update once the outstanding analysis and recovery work has been completed.
“I appreciate that this update may cause concern for families, and I would encourage anyone with questions or concerns to contact Operation Perth, where the team will be happy to provide support and, where possible, further information.”
An ICO spokesperson said: “When people access medical care, they share some of their most sensitive personal information and trust that it will be protected. We expect organisations to have appropriate measures in place to keep medical records safe and secure.
“Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has made us aware of this incident involving maternity records and we are making enquiries.
“We recognise this incident may be concerning for those affected. Anyone worried about their personal information can visit the ICO website for advice and support.”
By Lauren Monaghan, Local Democracy Reporter
