Police Found Nottingham Maternity Review File Was Likely Deleted Intentionally

A digital file containing details of hundreds of maternity cases at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust was most likely deleted intentionally or maliciously, a police cyber investigation concluded.

The file was created during work to identify families whose cases should have been included in the independent review of maternity services at the trust. Its disappearance was discovered in 2024, but the information was recovered within days and ultimately led to around 300 additional cases being referred to the review. Police were unable to identify who deleted it, although they found no evidence of wider systemic corruption within the trust.

The incident is separate from a more recent data loss in August 2026, when a maternity database was accidentally overwritten during routine technical work. The trust said clinical information required for patient care was restored, but it has not fully recovered the historical record showing who accessed maternity files between September 2011 and November 2022.

The data failures have caused further distress among families already affected by maternity failings at Nottingham City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre. The independent Ockenden review examined more than 2,500 family cases, while Nottinghamshire Police continues a separate criminal investigation into deaths and serious injuries connected with maternity care at the trust.

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