Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust accidentally overwrote 11 years of maternity records on 18 August after staff failed to change a setting in a reused set of database instructions. During routine work to copy a radiotherapy database, the pre-written code was executed against the wrong database, destroying the Medway maternity records system. Whilst the Trust has recovered the clinical information necessary for patient care, it has been unable to restore the complete audit history showing who accessed maternity records between September 2011 and November 2022.

The incident affected records covering 11 years of maternity data but did not impact current patients or services. The Trust has recovered notes, observations, and test results, but the loss of access logs means it can no longer establish who viewed individual patient records during the affected period. The Information Commissioner's Office and Nottinghamshire Police have been notified, with the latter assessing whether the loss affects Operation Perth, an ongoing investigation into maternal and infant deaths and serious injuries.