THE private details of an alleged 70 patients of Dorset Healthcare University Foundation Trust were on a laptop and documents which were discovered by a contractor after being left in a car-park, it has been claimed.

The Bournemouth Echo was contacted by a whistleblower who claims names, dates of birth, medical history and family situations of ‘at least 70’ patients of the Dorset Healthcare University Foundation Trust – the main provider of mental health care and community services in Dorset – were on the laptop or in documents.

However, Cara Southgate, Deputy Director of Nursing, Therapies and Quality at DHUFT described the incident as ‘a genuine mistake’ by a ‘hard-working, dedicated member of staff who is deeply upset at what happened’ and said the authority was ‘absolutely confident’ that patient records were not accessed via the laptop, which was encrypted and password protected. “It was also remotely removed from the Trust network when the loss was reported,” she said.

The whistleblower claimed that a bag containing a laptop and documents was found by 'a member of the public'. “This person took the bag home with them and did not contact anyone about the laptop and patient notes until 36 hours later,” they claimed. “Due to the weekend the laptop and papers were left with this person for almost four days before being collected. The finder had to look through the bag to find some contact information.”

However, Ms Southgate refuted the allegations, saying: “A member of staff going about their job made a genuine mistake at the end of the day and left their bag in the car park at one of our sites in Bournemouth as they left to go home.

“The bag was found a few hours later by a contractor and we are very fortunate they kept the bag safe and arranged to return it to us as quickly as possible.”

She said the incident had been taken ‘very, very seriously’. “The member of staff reported the loss themselves early the following day, as well as informing the police, and an independent investigation was immediately launched. In line with best practice and our legal obligations we also very quickly reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office."

She continued: “The paper files were not individual clinical records or histories. They did contain some limited patient information from clinical team meetings and the contractor assured us they did not read any of the details or share them with anyone else.”

The whistleblower had claimed that no patients had been informed and Ms Southgate confirmed this, saying they had wanted to ‘avoid unwarranted distress or alarm’. They did not inform patients because, she said: “With this assurance and the safe recovery of all of the information, we concluded there was no breach of patient confidentiality.”

*This incident comes just a fortnight after the authority admitted that figures it supplied for a report into the treatment of people with psychosis were inaccurate. The figures initially submitted by DHUFT, which it described as ‘an administrative error’, purported to show it as one of the worst authorities in the south in this regard, but the correct figures, said the authority, show it is ranked third highest nationally.