A database containing historic maternity records for women and babies treated at Nottingham University Hospitals was accidentally overwritten during routine technical work, the trust has revealed.
The incident happened on 18 August 2026 while staff were attempting to create a copy of a radiotherapy database for reporting purposes.
NUH said a set of pre-written computer instructions previously used for another hospital system was used, but a setting was not changed before the process began.
As a result, the process was carried out on a maternity database instead of the intended radiotherapy database.
The affected database contained records relating to women and babies who received care between September 2011 and November 2022. The information came from Medway, the trust’s previous maternity records system.
NUH said it had restored the clinical information needed to support patient care, including notes, observations and test results.
However, it has not been able to recover the complete audit history showing who viewed the maternity records during the 11-year period.
This means the trust may be unable, in most cases, to confirm whether a particular person accessed an individual maternity record between September 2011 and November 2022.
NUH said no information relating to current maternity patients was affected and the incident had not disrupted maternity care being provided today.
The trust also said it had found no evidence that patient information was accessed or used inappropriately as a result of the incident.
The issue was escalated within minutes of being discovered, according to NUH. External specialists were brought in and other sources of information were examined to recover as much of the affected data as possible.
The Information Commissioner’s Office was notified within the required timeframe.
Nottinghamshire Police has also been informed and is assessing whether the incident has any impact on Operation Perth, its investigation into maternity care at NUH.
A patient safety incident investigation has been completed, and the trust said it had strengthened its technical controls and working processes.
Andy Callow, Chief Digital and Information Officer at NUH, said: “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. We took immediate action to investigate the incident and recover the affected information.
“The information needed to support patient care has been restored and 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.”
