IT mistake erases 11 years of viewing history for hospitals’ maternity records

A routine IT maintenance error at Nottingham University Hospitals erased 11 years of maternity-record viewing history, highlighting how a single misconfigured process can create major operational, legal, and reputational risk in a highly regulated environment. Although core patient-care data was restored and current care was not affected, the incident exposes gaps in change control, validation, and data protection that CIOs must address to preserve trust, support investigations, and ensure auditability.