Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee parents ‘furious’ as NHS worker loses documents with personal details of P1 pupils

Children's names, dates of birth and even weight and height information have been lost in the latest NHS Tayside data breach.

NHS Tayside data breach at Eastern Primary School
Eastern Primary School. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson

Parents at a Dundee school are “furious” after an NHS worker lost documents containing personal information about primary one pupils.

Details including names, dates of birth and even the weight and height of children at Eastern Primary School in Broughty Ferry were included in the paperwork.

The documents were lost on Wednesday by a member of NHS Tayside staff while they were taking height and weight measurements of P1 pupils during a BMI (body mass index) review.

Health bosses said in a letter to parents that an “extensive search was undertaken but the paperwork was not recovered”.

Dad ‘furious and shocked’ by NHS Tayside data breach at Eastern Primary

One dad, whose child goes to Eastern Primary School, wants to know how the information can be lost so easily.

The dad, who did not want to be identified, said: “We are furious and shocked that this has been allowed to happen.

“It is very concerning that personal details involving our child can just disappear.

“We want to know how this can be allowed to happen.

“We would also like to know where they have gone – we would hate to think they are lying around somewhere where anyone could access them.

‘We lay the blame squarely with NHS Tayside’

“We lay the blame for this squarely with NHS Tayside and do not blame the school, who have always shown great care in any dealings with our child.”

The letter from NHS Tayside said the P1 BMI team “has been instructed to ensure that paperwork is securely transported in accordance with NHS Tayside health records management policy… to prevent recurrence”.

It added: “NHS Tayside wishes to apologise to you for this breach and assure you that we take the security of your child’s personal data very seriously.”

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “The incident was reported in line with appropriate information governance procedures and we have written to parents to apologise and advise them of further actions they may wish to take, including contacting our schools team or our data protection officer for further advice or support.

“NHS Tayside takes the security of information very seriously and the relevant information governance and data protection policies and procedures have been reiterated to staff in the team.”

A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “We have been informed of a data breach by NHS Tayside and have worked with them to inform parents and carers.”

NHS Tayside data breach
The letter about the data breach was sent to parents at Eastern Primary School. Image: Supplied

It is at least the fourth significant data breach involving NHS Tayside since August.

NHS Tayside staff were said to be “raging” when their information was mistakenly shared with staff in the corporate equalities team.

The following month, the health board had another case of missing documents when paperwork relating to hundreds of patients was lost.

And in January, a woman told The Courier how she was “devastated” after a Ninewells Hospital worker twice snooped on her records.

Conversation