Human error during a database copy operation overwrote 11 years of maternity record access logs at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
On August 18, 2026, NUH IT staff ran pre-written scripts intended to copy a radiotherapy database for reporting purposes, but a setting that should have been changed (to target the radiotherapy database) was left unchanged, so the script ran against and overwrote a maternity records database instead. The overwritten database held maternity records for women and babies treated between September 2011 and November 2022. NUH could restore patient care data (notes, observations, test results) but could not fully restore the audit history showing who accessed maternity records during that 11-year window.
Entities: Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Andy Callow, Nottinghamshire Police, Nottingham Maternity Family Group, Rob Griffin
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What happened
On 18 August 2026, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) IT staff ran a reused script intended to copy a radiotherapy database, but a target setting was left unchanged, so the script overwrote a maternity records database instead. This destroyed 11 years of access/audit logs (September 2011 to November 2022) showing who had viewed maternity records; NUH says it restored the underlying clinical notes, observations and test results, but not the audit trail itself.
Why it matters
This lands inside an active Nottinghamshire Police investigation into over 500 alleged cases of avoidable harm or death in NUH's maternity department, and follows a 2025 incident where maternity records were allegedly deleted "intentionally or maliciously." Losing 11 years of access logs removes a tool investigators and families could have used to establish who saw specific records and when, which matters for both the criminal inquiry and any civil claims. Current patient care is not affected, but the trust's own claim that no inappropriate access occurred cannot actually be verified now that the logs are gone.
What is noise
NUH's framing of this as a routine, isolated human-error IT incident understates the context: it is only newsworthy because of the ongoing police investigation, and the trust cannot substantiate its "no inappropriate access" reassurance without the very logs that were destroyed. Any suggestion that this incident is definitively linked to the 2025 deletion or to the 500+ harm cases is speculative at this stage; police are still examining whether it is relevant.
Watch next
- 01Nottinghamshire Police statement on whether the lost audit logs are material to the 500+ case investigation
- 02Any independent forensic or ICO review confirming or disputing NUH's account of the script error and its scope
- 03Response or statement from the Nottingham Maternity Family Group on whether this affects ongoing family claims or inquests
Coverage
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