Wolverhampton hospital staff fury after private data leaked

Chiefs made the blunder when handling the confidential details of 23 members of staff from the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

The mistake has been put down to 'human error' and bosses have launched an investigation and issued an apology.

One woman whose details were sent said she was 'livid'.

People's job description and wages were among the details given during a financial planning exercise.

She and others are moving to University Hospital North Staffordshire (UHNS) as part of the stripping of services from Stafford Hospital.

Some staff are moving to the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, with letters recently sent to those at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust informing them of where they would be going.

But personal and private details of 23 staff were revealed to nine organisations, eight of which are hospital trusts.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I'm proud to have worked at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust despite the fact they've been slated.

"The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust is seen as the saviour.

"I'm not even going to be employed by them yet they've sent out my information to nine separate organisations, none of whom have the right to see it.

"I'm absolutely livid.

"I'm delighted not to be working for the RHT if this is how they treat their staff."

Last week it was revealed that costs to move services from Stafford Hospital to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire are set to double.

Bosses at the Stoke-based hospital are now expecting the cost of an 'integration' team handling the takeover to cost £8.7million - up from an expected £4.1 million this year.

A spokesman for The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust apologised for the data breach.

He added: "During a financial planning exercise being carried out by The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, confidential data relating to 23 members of staff at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust was inadvertently emailed to nine other organisations.

"The mistake, which was down to human error, was quickly identified and each of the organisations was contacted and the wrongly-sent information was deleted.

"Under our duty of candour the trust has written to each of the 23 people to explain what has happened and to apologise for this regrettable mistake.

"We are currently carrying out an in-depth analysis of the data breach in order to ensure this kind of mistake does not happen again."

Bosses at New Cross Hospital are to take over the running of Cannock Chase Hospital, which is also run by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

The hospital will be the base for all elective non-emergency surgery.

It is anticipated that patients – who could number 10,000 per year – will start being treated there by the end of the summer.

They will be ferried between Wolverhampton and Cannock on free shuttle buses as part of radical proposals.