NUH IT error deletes 11 years of maternity record access logs amid ongoing police probe

Nottingham University Hospitals reported the deletion of access logs spanning 2013-2024 for its maternity systems. The trust stated no patient clinical data was altered or improperly accessed. Recovery attempts failed. Andy Callow confirmed a patient safety investigation and unspecified control upgrades. Nottinghamshire Police is assessing whether this incident affects its existing inquiry into systemic maternity failures including understaffing and ignored concerns.

June 2025 saw a separate file of hundreds of maternity records erased, later recovered, with police concluding the act was likely intentional. The current log loss compounds that case. Families represented by Nottingham Maternity Family Group described the incident as unnerving given prior preventable injuries and deaths. No direct evidence links the two deletions yet both occurred inside the same department under active criminal review.

The erased logs remove audit trails required for accountability in care reviews. Without viewing records, investigators lose timestamps showing who accessed files and when. This directly impairs verification of claims in the 2025 harm review. Operational risk now centers on whether restored data integrity can be demonstrated before charges are considered.

Police continue data recovery efforts with no crime confirmed in the latest incident. A decision on expanded charges is expected within six months if logs remain unrecoverable.